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A 

WEEK’S WOOING 

AND 

DOLPH AND DOLLY 


JOHN OSBORNE AUSTIN 


AUTHOR OF 

“PHILIP AND PHILIPPA,” ETC. 



Sbbey Press 


PUBLISHERS 
ri4 Fifth Avenuj 

London NEW YORK Montreal 



TZi 

■Al 3ttW 


THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS. I 
Two Copies Received | 

APR 6 1903 

Copyright Entry 
CLASS XXc, No. 
COPY B. 


COPYRIGHT 1803 

BY 

John Osborne Austin, 
Providence, R. I. 


Table of Contents. 


\ 


A Week’s Wooing. 

Page. 

Sunday — Resolution, ..... 7 

Monday — Recrimination, • «... 13 

Tuesday — Recollection, • 22 

Wednesday— Reflection, ..... 30 

Thursday — Restoration, . . . . . 41 

Friday— Reparation, ..... 47 

Saturday — Realization, ..... 60 

Dolph and Dolly. 

Chapter. 

I. “ Let brotherly love continue,” 77 

II. “ A brother of the angle,” .... 90 

III. “ Monastic brotherhood upon Rock Aerial,” . 103 

IV. “ A brotherhood of venerable trees,” . . 116 

V. “ How fast has brother followed brother,” . 128 

VI. “ No brother near the throne,” . . . 141 

VII. “For he today that sheds his blood with me, 

shall be my brother,” .... 153 

VIII. “ Two of us in the churchyard lie, 

My sister and my brother,” . . . 163 

IX. “ A brother to relieve, how exquisite the bliss,” 177 

X. “ Closer than a brother,” .... 192 




















































































































A 

WEEK'S 

WOOING. 


Sunday — Resolution 


“ It is a matter that does not admit of argument. I 
am unalterably opposed to considering the possibility 
even of such a thing. This resolution is final.” 

So spoke Miss Isabel North, a fair denizen of Seaforth, 
which has its own charms in situation and environment, 
but of these this story has naught to relate. She did 
look very fair in both form and feature, at this moment, 
but very firm in manner. . Opposite, and evidently in op- 
position to her vigorously expressed views, stood Mr. 
Howard West, stalwart of figure, composed in manner, 
yet with a humorous appreciation of the situation, judging 
by the dancing light in his eyes, which were daringly 
inviting her own to companionship over the ludicrous 
aspect of the whole case. His answer came presently, 
in the form of a question. 

** If I may be allowed, what is it that you are opposed 
to?” 

“To marriage with you under any circumstances, to 
say nothing of the absurdity of supposing it possible 
within a week’s time, and to one heretofore a stranger! 
I should not have received you at all, if I had not heard 
a favorable account of your character in general.” 

“ I am rejoiced to learn that my credentials are satis- 
factory, even in a general way, and, coming now to par- 
ticulars, I must confess that I arrived here prejudiced as 
strongly as yourself against the iniquitous plot by which 


7 


a Week's wooing. 

our innocent selves were to be so summarily disposed of. 
Do not deem me ungallant if I allow that I was even pre- 
judiced against you , in advance, for which I fear I am yet 
to suffer. 

“You will readily see, now, that I came for a conference, 
rather than with any idea of making a proposal ; expect- 
ing to meet your presumed coolness and indifference, 
without the least flutter about my heart, or any danger to 
the peace of mind of either of us. It was a preposterous 
will ! Let me read the clause once more, ridiculous as it 
is — ‘ To my young friend, Howard West, the sum of fifty 
thousand dollars if he marries Miss Isabel North within 
one week from the probate of this will, and unto the said 
Isabel North a like sum of fifty thousand dollars upon 
her becoming the wife of said Howard West within the 
time above stipulated. ' All this is very absurd, truly, 
but let us on this, the first day since the probate of this 
extraordinary document, review the matter calmly, so 
that the shade of our eccentric friend and well wisher, 
may not haunt us for refusing even so slight a thing. 
The surer you are that it can never be, the more readily 
you will do so much at least; for, even if you deem the 
use of your name unwarrantable, it may be possible to 
view the action of the testator more leniently if we can 
ascertain what his standpoint really was. I have made 
some inquiry, during the brief time since the reading of 
the will, and have found that Mr. Hedge, our would-be 
benefactor, krew much more about us than we about him. 
Your acquaintance with him was slight, and mine not in- 
timate, although there was much I had learned to like in 
this taciturn man. It seems that he was deeply in love 
with your mother in their first youth, and although she 


8 


resolution'. 

could not respond to his affection, his heart remained un- 
changed, and he never married, as you know. In some 
way the idea took possession of his mind that you and I 
would be happiest in a lifelong companionship. A fan- 
ciful notion certainly, but as I thought how hardly and 
how long he had suffered for an ideal, my vexation for 
you and myself at the unwarrantable use of our names, 
grew somewhat tempered. I finally determined to see 
and confer with you, conscious that I had no prejudices 
in your favor, and believing that you had none in mine, 
which I certainly find to be the case. I had no reason to 
suppose that you would ever entertain a particle of inter- 
est in one whom you had never even seen until today, 
and I have been frank enough to admit that I believed 
nothing in this interview would cause my heart to beat 
more quickly, or give me a moment’s unrest, however 
beautiful and charming you might prove. I had heard 
incidentally that you were beautiful, in a way (the quali- 
fication is not mine) as well as poor and proud ; and I had 
no idea that you would thank me for offering to aid you 
by accepting the terms of the will. If such an improbable 
thing did occur as our falling in love, I felt sure that it 
would be in spite of the money, not because of it. We 
should have taken it with the frank allowance that it was 
a comfortable thing to have, enjoying its use without 
heroics or needless protestations. 

“ All this might have been if matters were quite other- 
wise than I expected to find them. In other words if we 
found ourselves so deeply in love, that, having met on 
Sunday we should marry on Saturday! 

“You will see that I had not taken the matter very seri- 
ously so far, notwithstanding my resolve to act fairly by 


9 


a week's wooing. 


Mr. Hedge; my main thought being one of amusement 
over the whole situation. Even when you put your final 
resolution so strongly, I came very near answering that 
I had not asked you to marry me, which, though true, 
would have been rude, and perhaps impolitic if my mind 
should change later. The strangest thing of all I have 
still to relate, for, as I have stood here talking with you, 
something has happened that filled me at first with as- 
tonishment, almost consternation, something that it will 
be hard for you to characterize, I fear, as anything but 
folly. Yet I know as well at this moment as I shall at 
my dying day that I love you ! My heart has gone from 
me suddenly, wildly, even hopelessly if you will it so, but 
it has gone forevermore. May I try to win yours? Let 
me answer for you, so far at least, for desperate as the 
chance may be, I must make the trial for my own happi- 
ness, and I dare to hope for yours also.” 

He was gone without awaiting her answer. An odd 
wooing and an odd wooer, unless there was a method in 
it ; for he might have wished to give her time to con- 
sider his strange words, without the embarrassment of 
his presence. 

How preposterous that he could have lost his heart to 
her at this first meeting ! It was true that they had heard 
much about each other during the month that had inter- 
vened between the reading and the probate of the will. 
She knew, from better sources than mere hearsay, that 
he was an honorable, straight-forward gentleman; and 
yet the money involved was quite a prize, and innocent as 
his manner appeared, perhaps a fortune-hunter would 
have used the very same. How could she surely tell? 
Setting aside, however, any possibility of interested mo- 


io 


RESOLUTION. 


tives, how foolish it was in him to suppose his heart so 
suddenly smitten, or that hers could ever be. It was all 
a little too wild and sudden, words of his own that suf- 
ficiently described it. 

How utterly absurd the whole matter was in all its 
bearings. 

A young man appears that she had never even seen 
before, prejudiced against her on his own confession, and 
yet he declares a deathless passion at this very first meet- 
ing! 

Who could have sought to prejudice him? Who, in- 
deed, but Kitty Clifton. She was their only mutual 
friend, although the latter term was far too endearing, 
for Kitty’s eyes were almost green, and her nature, she 
had sometimes thought decidedly feline, albeit she was 
pretty, and could assume caressing ways that some people 
liked. Mr. West had indulged in a number of unwar- 
rantable remarks for a first call upon the object of his 
adoration, and it was just possible he might have to pay 
smartly for some of them, Isabel thought, if she kept her 
present mind. What was the arraignment in summary? 

( 1 ) He had dared to intimate that she had refused him 
before he had asked her. 

(2) He had coolly admitted that he had formed prej- 
udices against her in advance. 

(3) He had counselled calmness in discussion, as bet- 
ter showing her lack of interest, than indignant declara- 
tions. Simply a subterfuge of his to gain a basis for ar- 
gument. Did he think her too shallow to see this ? How 
uncomplimentary ! 

(4) He had fairly startled her in his sudden impas- 
sioned declaration of love, quite putting out of her head 
the reply she should have made upon that very instant. 


11 


i , 

A WEEK S WOOING. 

(5) He had coolly answered for her, that he might try, 
and left her to cogitate over the matter. Very well, then, 
let it rest so. Try he might for seven days or seventy 
times seven, for all the good it might do him. 

He would find that it would have been wiser to take her 
first resolve as final, even if it had been made before he 
had asked her. He must allow, at least, that it fitted 
very well to the avowal he soon afterward made. Why 
had he come here at all to bother her, after listening to 
Kitty’s purring insinuations, that had power enough to 
produce those prejudices which he had allowed took some 
lodgment in his mind. Why had he not sought Kitty’s 
heart instead of hers ? 

But somehow she could not quite imagine, those strong, 
steady eyes looking into Kitty’s as they had for a mo- 
ment into hers; and, though her own would never be 
able to give the answer that he so desired, yet Kitty was 
not the girl for Mr. West. She was so positive of this 
that she smiled, presently, wondering why poor Kitty 
should be denied what she had so emphatically refused 
for herself. 



12 


Monday — Recrimination 


“ Mr. Hedge knew a hawk from a handsaw, and if he 
was mad it was only when the wind was North-West! 
You perceive that he had read of Hamlet, the Dane, and 
is it not almost worth while to join our fates, so as not 
to spoil his fanciful idea of uniting the names that are 
so suggestive of complement?” 

“ This is no joking matter, Mr. West,” said Isabel, 
severely, with a little frown that he thought vastly be- 
coming, but then all things she did became her well, now, 
to his mind. 

She did not quite relish the change overnight, in his 
manner, from the serious tone then to this lighter, trifling 
style. Perhaps he thought more could be accomplished 
along this line at first. “ Why should I not try ? ” he 
asked, as if he knew her last thought. “All is not fair 
in love and war, but many things are. Why should I not 
try to lead you for a time, even if I fail, and am forced to 
try driving at last. Is it true, Miss North, that the av- 
erage woman likes to be driven?” 

“ It makes very little difference whether you strive to 
lead or drive, Mr. West,” she returned, coldly. 

“ You disapprove of me as much this morning as when 
we parted, so abruptly yesterday, for there is evidently a 
whole catalogue of sins that I am to answer for. I can 
see that with half a glance, and tremble already at the 
dread indictment which your eyes have foreshadowed,” 


13 


a week's wooing. 


"What is the arraignment? Wherein have I off ended ? 
I am already a sorely repentant sinner, and that makes the 
battle half won for you in advance. Shall I guess what 
I have done or not done to offend ?” 

“ I will not put you to that trouble just now,” she 
answered, with the mere ghost of a smile ; for there was 
something in his present manner — so confiding and 
winning under its audacity that made her wish (in spite 
of her resolves) to do him justice in whatever might 
fairly be construed in his favor. After all he was not 
really assuming or presumptuous, and he was careful not 
to offend any delicate feeling in all this light talk that he 
affected so transparently. 

She felt this so strongly that the five sins charged to 
his account the night before, looked less direful now. 
She glanced quickly at him and was forced to acknowl- 
edge that if his eyes twinkled humorously just at present, 
yet they were very honest eyes — the kind she had always 
said she could confide in. He must not be allowed, 
however, to start upon this second day's interview with 
even a fancied advantage. 

“ Have you known Miss Clifton long?” she asked, for 
want of something better to say, while debating how she 
might best place herself in a position to effectually settle 
what was growing more difficult to manage with every 
minute’s delay. If she could only make him see that any 
further interviews would be quite unnecessary, because 
surely fruitless. 

“ Long enough to be allowed to call her Kitty,” he re- 
plied, adding with a smile, suggested at least, “ shells a 
particular admiration of yours is she not? She said you 
had been intimate for years.” 


14 


RECRIMINATION. 


“ Hardly that , exactly,” she exclaimed, vexed that 
Kitty should have put it so, and that he should have 
phrased it just as he had. 

“ Hardly which , an admiration or an intimate, or do 
you mean hardly those , giving poor Kitty the benefit of 
neither intimacy nor even distant admiration. Perhaps 
you think ‘ If ladies be but young and fair they have 
the gift to know it ’ — or that Kitty has at least; but re- 
member she is so generous as to allow beauty in others — 
to you at least.” 

“ She is very kind,” replied Isabel, rather dryly, for 
she could well imagine how far Kitty’s generosity had 
gone, and how finely it had been qualified. 

“ Possibly I might not have met you, Miss North, if it 
had not been for Kitty. I rather think she presumed I 
would not when we parted. I had not been over particu- 
lar about it, but, after my talk with her, sheer contra- 
riety would have brought me here, even if common fair- 
ness to Mr. Hedge had not been a sufficient motive. If 
she ever becomes aware of how her manner piqued me 
into coming, she will doubtless be surprised. Of 
course she did not intend to prevent it.” 

Isabel was well convinced that Kitty had made no stren- 
uous effort to help the interview, and as far as that went, 
was glad her designs had failed by the overdoing of a part. 

She simply replied, however, “ I could have survived 
not meeting you; or, perhaps, I should say we could 
have survived — apart,” she added, for it had an impolite 
sound the first way. She had merely wished to utterly 
discourage his hopes at the outset, deeming that the 
truest kindness. 


15 


a week's wooing. 


He flushed slightly at the commencement of her words, 
but quickly replied : “ No, I think you had better leave 
the statement as first uttered, for it was unqualified if 
not encouraging to me, while the later one you did qualify 
with ‘ perhaps', showing that you could not assume to 
speak for me. You were wise in that, for I could not 
well survive apart from you, however desirable distance 
may now seem to you. I trust that you can at least be- 
lieve me when I say that your life will be more precious 
to me than all else while I do survive. Can you ?” 

He had foregone all raillery now, and was looking so 
gravely and steadily at her, that it was difficult to escape 
an answer. She felt, too, how hard he was striving to 
keep the love and the longing out of his face, and she 
respected him for demanding the answer that touched his 
sincerity alone. 

“ How can you be so sure of yourself?” she said, but 
there was evasion in this, and she knew it would not sat- 
isfy him almost as soon as the words were uttered. 

“ Can you believe that I hold you so dearly ?” How he 
held her to the question. In honesty to him she could 
only answer. 

“ I believe that you think so — but upon no rational 
grounds.” 

His face lighted up, as if this tardy and qualified answer 
had given him fresh reason to hope, and replied almost 
joyfully, “Thank you for the belief that mine is honest. 
It means so much for me, marking what I dare to hope is 
progress for Monday, our second day.” 

There was no sense in his extracting happiness from 
such insufficient, inconclusive grounds, and to prevent his 
gaining more comfort where none was to be had, she said, 

16 


RECRIMINATION. 


quickly, “You are too insistent, and where an inch is 
given, desire an ell.” 

She could have bitten her tongue at this unfortunate 
speech, which might so readily be turned to his advan- 
tage if he chose. The last thing she had meant to imply 
was that he had gained anything, and his toleration in 
letting the words pass was more intolerable than if he 
had commented upon them. If she could only find a 
way to dispose finally of the whole matter it would be 
such a relief. What could she do to destroy any possible 
hope that her recent words might have given ? 

“ Can you not be satisfied, Mr. West, that your quest is 
a fruitless, hopeless one, and that it is best to forsake it 
at once and forever?” 

She desired to be perfectly honest with him, as well as 
herself, and to spare him future disappointment. 

“ If no other man possesses your heart, I shall try for 
it during this week, at least. If I have tired you then, 
you shall have a rest, but I cannot promise to cease the 
pursuit forever. Suppose you try to give me as patient 
a hearing as you can for this week. I would not press 
unduly, but this is a matter close to my very soul and life. 
Have you thought of the sacredness and dignity of right 
loving, apart from the man who offers it? Is there not 
something due to that, in giving a fair hearing where you 
see that a man’s whole heart is engaged? I speak, or 
try to, of my heart, apart from my personality, as I 
might (though I fear I couldn’t), for any man’s heart. 
May I try for the rest of this week to win your love? 
It is a simple but I hope not unreasonable proposition 
that nearly affects me— how nearly and dearly I have 
tried to tell you.” 


17 


a week's wooing. 


“ You are a very obstinate man !” 

“ I am very deeply in love !” 

“ Without rhyme or reason." 

" I have rhymed as well as reasoned : 

“ Fairest Isabel 
Has yet her love to tell 
So dear, so free from guile ; 

She flouts me but a while !” 

“ I should hardly have thought of you as a poet.” 

“ You will surely think of me as hardly one, now ! 
How would you like best to think of me? What do you 
most admire in man, that I may hasten to emulate it?” 

“ It is rather early in our acquaintance, Mr. West, to 
discuss ideals, besides, I fear you are neither facile nor 
adaptable.” 

“ I am sure you like neither quality, hence if you dis- 
trust these you may yet trust me, and trusting is close 
to something even better.” 

“ You seem determined to extract comfort from very 
slight things, mere suppositions of yours, as to my likes 
and dislikes.” 

“ I wonder what you would like above all things in a 
lover! Perhaps to be rescued from great peril at the 
risk of his life. Possibly chance may give me the oppor- 
tunity, but if so, you must not know that I am the man.’" 

“ Why not?” 

“ Because you might then mistake heartfelt gratitude 
for the master passion. No; if I am the rescuer, you 
must not know it until I have won you without the aid 
of any accessories of that kind. If any one else should 
rescue you from peril, I shall insist that his heroism shall 

18 


RECRIMINATION. 


not weigh a particle with you, so far as love is con- 
cerned.” 

“ How restrictedly and exclusively selfish !” 

“ I will not deny it ; and now, what great service can I 
do for you? Is there not some knightly task, some ad- 
venturous errand that may be performed before we meet 
again tomorrow?” 

“ I can think of nothing that can be done so quickly 
as that. I am very fond of pond lilies, but there are none 
to be found about here. Perhaps you could get me some 
by day after tomorrow, if your business should carry 
you away.” 

“ A deep-laid plot to make me lose a precious day with 
you ! How can you be so cruel ? If it is possible you shall 
be foiled, for I will sail across the bay and catch the 
evening train, and by early morning I can reach a little 
pond that I know of, secure the lilies, and be back here 
with you before sunset tomorrow. Au revoir! And 
remember that I forgive all your recriminations (or crim- 
inations, rather) of levity, obstinacy, selfishness, etc. 
Think of me in the still, small hours of the night, as I 
speed from you, and steel not your heart against any soft- 
ness that may strive for me there.” 

He was gone, even more suddenly than he left her 
upon the first day. Perhaps he thought he could startle 
her into an interest by his peculiar methods. At any 
rate, she might now gain a brief respite from his atten- 
tions, for it was very doubtful if he could really get back 
by the next day. She felt provoked, however, that she 
had said anything about the lilies. How quick he was 
to seize upon her careless words for his advantage; or, 
rather (to herself she would admit it!), he did seem very 
happy at the opportunity of doing her a service. 

19 


a week's wooing. 


As she turned the corner, a little later, a few drops of 
rain drove in her face with the first angry gust of wind. 
She was bewildered for a moment by that and the warn- 
ing cries of people near her, and hardly realized, until it 
was over, that she had been quickly pulled almost from 
under the wheels of an electric car. She found an um- 
brella in her hand, but the rescuer, whose face she had 
not even seen, was already hurrying down the street, with 
what seemed to her a slight limp, as if injured in some 
way. 

“A brave man, that, and would not even wait for the 
lady to thank him ! Are ye no’ hurt a bit, miss ? That’s 
good, then, and more than he can say, I’m thinking,” 
said a kind hearted laboring man who had witnessed the 
quickly enacted scene. 

“ You may thank him for your life, if ever you get 
the chance,” remarked another. 

As she was again starting upon her way, although still 
bewildered by it all, Kitty Clifton met her. 

“ What is all this stir about ?” she inquired, and then, 
looking sharply at the handle of Isabel’s umbrella, she 
exclaimed: “So this is what he wanted my spare um- 
brella for! ‘To be returned in a day or two!’ he said. 
It was only a minute ago that I met Mr. West, just as 
that dark cloud came up, and he said it was providential 
that I had two umbrellas, and would I lend him one for 
a friend of his? He had it and was off before I could 
inquire as to age, sex or needs of his friend, or explain 
that I had a friend also to whom I was conveying it. It 
does not matter now, for the squall is over, at least the 
rain part, but how it does blow ! Let us go up to the 
Battery and look at the whitecaps out on the bay.” 


20 


RECRIMINATION. 

They soon reached the remains of the old fort, at the 
top of the hill, and as Kitty shaded her eyes and looked 
seaward she exclaimed again : “ See that yawl lying 

down to it out there, and rushing along as if the very 
Evil One was after her ! What a daring, reckless sailor 
to venture out in such a wind and sea, with all that can- 
vas on her, too. I should know better than that. Look, 
now! Is she over, or not?” 

Neither could surely tell, for the rain drove in once 
more, and so thickly and darkly as to obscure everything. 
Kitty fled on her way, which was in the opposite direction 
from Isabel’s. As the latter struggled homeward against 
the still increasing gale, the thought flashed through her 
consciousness that he was in that boat, bound on her 
errand — the man who had turned back but a few minutes 
before and saved her life! 

A feeling of dread, of awful anxiety as to his safety, 
possessed her, and she shivered with something approach- 
ing terror as she thought of how the boat was being 
tossed and torn by the cruel waves when she last saw it. 

The man who so loved her, or who was strong in that 
belief, the one who had saved her life at the risk of his 
own, and to his own injury, she feared, was even now, 
if alive, struggling with the gale, and battling that her 
idle wish might be gratified. 

She could not hold herself quite blameless if evil over- 
took him as a result of his journey on her behalf. Al- 
though her heart might not be stirred by his love (for 
she knew somehow, now, that he not only believed but 
did love her), yet she could pity and pray for him— all 
that was left to do. 


21 


Tuesday — Recollection 


Sleep came tardily to Isabel, and it was a troubled one 
at best. There had been so much to recall in those hours 
of wakefulness, when repose was impossible and so little 
desired. First of all there was her wonderful escape 
from an awful death, whose nearness she could better 
realize now; and then, close to that recollection, was the 
thought to whom her gratitude was due, immediately due, 
for she could not forget that God’s mercy was over and 
through it all. 

She remembered how, as she was snatched from her 
peril into those strong arms, a quick, deep breath of relief 
shook the frame of the one who held her so closely for a 
moment. It had almost seemed as if his heart had 
throbbed in thankfulness against hers. Then, lamed as 
he was, he persisted in going into another peril, that she 
might have her desire. The great dread returned that 
had been with her through the night, a fear that she might 
never again see him. She must put that away until cer- 
tainty, of good or evil, took the place of this agony of 
doubt, almost akin to despair. A few brief hours would 
end the suspense, but how the time lagged! How brief 
the period since she had first met him, and yet how much 
there was to recall. 

This was to have been their third day of meeting. He, 
at least, had fondly hoped so, though she had done her 
best to postpone his coming. What had been the sum 


22 


RECOLLECTION. 


and substance of his offending that she should so strongly 
have discouraged his every move? 

For a month before his first call she had known the 
purport of the will, and certainly the position was a vex- 
atious one to be placed in ; yet he was no more to blame 
than she for that. There had been ample time to learn 
what manner of man he was, and she had thought it a 
pardonable curiosity to take advantage of her opportuni- 
ties, not with any such result in view as that desired by 
the testator, but because it seemed natural and rational 
that she should know so much. She was aware, there- 
fore, in advance of his call, that Mr. West was in the 
highest sense of the word a gentleman. In her care to 
show stern disapproval of the unwarranted use of her 
name in connection with his, had she been altogether fair 
to the man, who she knew also disapproved ? 

In a review of it all, now, she could not entirely ap- 
prove her own course, for she had been over suspicious 
of him, over careful of her own dignity, and not sensible, 
as she should have been, that any true man’s offer of love 
had the right to at least a respectful hearing. “ The 
sacredness and dignity of right loving apart from the 
man who offers it.” Those were his own words when 
last they met. True ones, as her heart should have told 
her earlier. He had approached a difficult matter in as 
frank a spirit as could have been asked, with no thought 
at first of any effort to gain her heart. That had come 
in spite of himself, and the front of his offending was in 
daring to tell his love upon the instant that he felt its 
power over him. To any one else she would have shown 
consideration, at least, but she had hardly given him that, 
although it was his right, notwithstanding the mention of 


2 3 


a week's wool n a 


their names together in the will. That vexatious men- 
tion, then, and his sudden avowal, were the things he had 
been made to suffer for. 

It was clear to her, now, that the more honest, more 
dignified and more womanly way to have treated any man 
offering love, and worthy of it, would have been to hear 
him, at least, patiently. There was no question in this 
as to her own love, or want of it. It was simply a matter 
of justice and common fairness to him. Had she been 
entirely fair and just? She feared not quite; and now, 
it was, perhaps, too late! That was the ever-recurring, 
ever-fearful thought that pressed upon her. 

She could not stay within doors while so ill at ease, 
and her footsteps naturally led to the Battery, whence she 
last saw his boat in that frightful moment when all seemed 
lost. She went there again in the afternoon, in the hope, 
however vain, that she might see his returning sail. At 
last something did appear, far out across the bay, that 
might possibly be his boat, and later proved so, causing 
Isabel’s heart to beat so wildly and strangely that it was 
almost a pain ; nor could she decide whether joy or dread 
was uppermost, for the boat’s return might not surely in- 
dicate his safety. As the little craft neared her moorings, 
close under the Battery, Isabel perceived that its occu- 
pant was not Mr. West, and as he landed she saw that 
he carried a parcel in his hand. While she was debating 
how to put the question that meant so much to her, re- 
garding the safety of the former occupant of the boat, 
the man had quickly moved away, and it was not until he 
reached the steps of her uncle’s home that she overtook 
him. He turned as she was endeavoring to control her 
voice before speaking, and said, as he touched his hat: 


*4 


RECOLLECTION. 


“ Is this Miss North ? ” She assented by a motion of 
her head, for she still distrusted her voice, and he handed 
her the package, saying: “ Mr. West told me to see it 
into your own hands.” She thanked him in as steady a 
voice as she could command, while such a joy was thrill- 
ing her whole being. Joy and thankfulness beyond meas- 
ure. As she gained her room she almost sobbed aloud 
at the relief of this happy assurance. Nothing in her 
previous life had ever so moved her, and while life lasted 
she knew that this moment would be remembered as a 
blessed one. As she opened the parcel the fragrance of 
the beautiful lilies, and the feeling of what they repre- 
sented in love and devotion, moved her to the verge of 
tears. She knew at length how strongly and truly his 
heart beat for her, and it seemed for a moment as if her 
own throbbed at his bidding, but she could not yet 
analyze her emotions thus far. It was enough that he 
was safe ! He who had saved her so lately. There was 
a letter with the flowers, and her heart again beat quickly 
as she broke the seal. It was a brief message : 

My Dear Miss North : 

I have redeemed my promise, you see, and the lilies 
are yours! Unluckily I cannot present them in person, 
for the very unromantic affliction of a lame ankle pre- 
cludes my moving today, and, worse still, tomorrow. 
Could anything be more unfortunate? — for me, I mean, 
of course. For you it is perhaps a blessed relief, a re- 
prieve at least, and yet somehow I dare to hope differ- 
ently; dare to believe that you would be willing to see 
me if I were able to come. I had much to say to you 
today and thought I had so much to write, and yet I have 


25 


a week's wooing. 


nearly finished already. You know my heart. Do with 
it as you will. In your own good time bless my life with 
your love if you can. If I have wearied or vexed you with 
too many words heretofore, this third day’s message 
is a short one at least. Will you do the talking tomor- 
row ? Just a line, to say that you received the lilies. Noth- 
ing more — unless you wish it. The next day, the fifth, 
I trust we shall meet again. 

Yours truly, 

Howard West. 

She felt sure that he was in physical pain while he 
wrote, but that it was only the strict injunctions of his 
physician which kept him from her. She knew, too, that 
he loved her even more, if that were possible, than when 
he left — and yet she understood why he had written so 
little about it. Her decision must come without many 
more words from him because he believed she saw his 
heart at last more clearly. How had he gained this faith ? 
Was it not when he had so nearly faced death with her, 
for how that had deepened and changed life in clearing 
her vision. 

The gift that might have cost him so dear, and the 
letter that came with it must be acknowledged, nor could 
she see any hardship, now, in doing this. First of all, 
however, she would return Kitty’s umbrella, although 
complications were possible there; for that young lady 
would be sure to comment upon it when he came back, 
which would show him that his secret was known. An 
explanation must be made in the letter somehow, and an 
assurance given that his heroic action on her behalf 
should not count in his favor. That did not seem an easy 
thing to say, notwithstanding his view about such mat- 


26 


RECOLLECTION. 


ters, as recently expressed. Perhaps she would see how 
to write more clearly after calling on Kitty, and thence 
she now proceeded. 

She found her at home and decidedly inclined to rail- 
lery. 

“ Thanks for so prompt a return of my umbrella, al- 
though it might have been better to let it come by Mr. 
West, as he intended. It looks a little as if you did not 
dare to trust him with it or with me! How exacting you 
are where he is concerned. I never knew you so exclu- 
sive about a man before. 

“ But really, is it quite fair to him , for you know he 
told me he would return it. Has he deputed you as his 
messenger ?” 

Isabel was vexed at Kitty’s absurd way of putting the 
matter, and saw a spice of mischievous, if not malicious, 
intent in the words, but merely responded : “ Mr. West 

was called away for a day or two, and, therefore, could 
not return it at once, while I could , and so have done it. 
He is not aware that I know of whom he borrowed it, 
and the return is made entirely upon my own responsi- 
bility.” 

“ Did you say called away or sent away ? I really 
thought at first that you might have dismissed him, but 
I see my mistake, although the whole thing is so terribly 
involved. I fear you must be pretty far gone, Isabel, to 
assume so much on short acquaintance. Do you know, 
dear, I have been thinking a great deal about your very 
awkward position regarding that will, and pitying you 
so. I would not be in your shoes for anything !” 

“ Wouldn't you though,” thought Isabel, but made no 
comment in words. Kitty sighed, compassionately, and 


27 


A week's wooing. 


proceeded : “ You see the situation is so embarrassing at 
every turn. If you marry him on such short notice, peo- 
ple will say, of course, that it was for the money — on 
your part or his — and that cheapens the whole affair so. 

“ Marry in haste, and repent at leisure will be continu- 
ally quoted of, if not at, you. On the other hand, if you 
really care for him and take the heroic attitude that the 
money may go, and defer your wedding until a decent 
time has elapsed, you will be called fools to lose a for- 
tune, merely because you feared your motives might be 
misconstrued. If you throw him over altogether, it will 
not suit other people any better, and, perhaps, not your- 
self upon reflection." 

“ You have certainly shown, to your own satisfaction 
at any rate, that I am in a parlous state whichever way 
I turn," laughed Isabel, amazed nevertheless that she 
could laugh at a matter that had been troubling her so 
much in the very publicity which Kitty had harped upon. 
It flashed through her mind that her own attitude might 
be changing, but leaving that for future reflection she 
said, very composedly, “ Well, Kitty, perhaps the best 
way will be to bring this tangle to you finally, if I cannot 
unravel it myself, for you seem to have thought it out on 
so many sides." 

“ Do not do anything reckless, at least, poor girl," said 
Kitty, at the door, consistent to the end in her policy of 
commiseration and pity. 

“ How I dreaded that call, and how much good it has 
done me," exclaimed Isabel, mentally, as she went upon 
her way; and then she fell into a reflective mood, ques- 
tioning herself as to just how and why the good had 
come out of it. But these reflections were too profound, 


28 


RECOLLECTION. 


and really fundamental to be followed out at present if 
that letter to Howard, as Kitty had dared to call him once 
today, was to be written. Howard! It was a nice name, 
although she had not liked it upon Kitty’s lips. The as- 
sociation of Howard and Kitty — and lips, was not at all 
pleasant, and she blushed at something else in her 
thoughts, and then laughed outright as she glanced at 
her own perplexed image in the glass. Whether the per- 
plexity was occasioned by inability to read her heart 
aright, or simply the puzzle as to starting the letter, she 
could not quite tell. 

She knew that she was a very happy and devoutly 
thankful girl today, and that the world had never seemed 
brighter, nor people better — even Kitty could be tol- 
erated. Could these things be omens? She had once 
read somewhere, “ When the world seems the brightest, 
people the best, just living a joy, when self is lost, when 
the heart thrills at the thought of his coming — then you 
are in love.” “ Nonsense !” she said to herself, “ of course 
I am glad to think that I shall soon see the man who 
saved my life — any one would be; but, as he declared, 
gratitude is not love.” 



29 


Wednesday — Reflection 


Howard had his own reflections also, as may well be 
imagined, when it is considered what the last few days 
had meant to him, and what he dared hope for other 
days. There was plenty of time now, in his enforced 
leisure, to indulge retrospect or dream of a still brighter 
future. It was the second day since he had seen his deal 
one, for so he dared to call her in his heart, in spite of all 
logic and reason. 

He had been pretty patient, both with the pain in his 
ankle, acute at times, and the separation from the one he 
so loved and longed for; consoling himself with the 
thought that absence is sometimes a lover’s best advo- 
cate. 

He was deeply sensible, too, of the great mercy that 
had been shown them both, so lately, when the sense of 
her peril had seemed to clutch his very heart. He hardly 
dared to think of her awful fate, if he had not chanced 
to meet Kitty, and then turned back with the umbrella. 
He was well assured that Isabel had not recognized him, 
and as for the umbrella, Kitty would have to wait a little 
for its return — until some other things were settled. 

He had already declared that he did not wish his suit 
advanced by any extraneous aids, nor did he wish Isabel 
perplexed or confused by them, as bearing upon her final 
decision. 


30 


REFLECTION. 


There might come a time when he could tell her all, 
when he would be glad to tell and she to hear, but that 
was in the future, perhaps a distant one. Just at present 
the question was as to the probable time of arrival of the 
letter that was to answer in place of their fourth day’s 
interview. 

He knew she would write in acknowledgment of the 
lilies, and if only barely that, it would be much to him. 
It was here now ! He smiled a moment later, to think 
how nonchalantly he had reached his hand out for it, 
waiting just long enough for the grizzled old postman to 
turn his back, ere opening, for fear that the joy in his 
eyes might be seen. The old man had seemed unusually 
deliberate this morning, and inclined to renew their con- 
versation of yesterday where it had been broken off, but 
Howard had not encouraged taking up the thread again. 
The thread of his very life might be in the precious mis- 
sive before him. It was fairly opened at last. 

Dear Mr. West: 

You were very kind to send me the lilies, but very 
rash to brave so much in wind and weather that my wish 
should be gratified. Do not, please, ever take such risks 
again. There is another thing that I must thank you so 
deeply for, even if it vexes you for me to mention it ; but 
how can I be silent where my life and your own are con- 
cerned? I am aware that you wished to be unknown in 
this, and I understand why it was so; but, believe me, I 
will try not to have my decision influenced by it in what is 
so near your heart. One thing more I desire that you 
should know, and that is how sensible I am of the honor 
you pay me in the offer of your love. I have not the 

31 


A week's wooing. 


right to say, yet, that I can give you any reasonable hope, 
and I trust that you will not misunderstand what I have 
written therefore, but it is your right to know and my 
privilege to tell you that I do appreciate the great honor 
of the offer of a faithful heart. The umbrella I returned 
to Miss Clifton, somewhat dreading her comments I will 
allow, but they fell more harmlessly upon me than I 
could have dreamed possible. I shall be very glad indeed 
to see you tomorrow, but do not attempt to travel, if 
your physician advises otherwise. 

Truly yours, 

Isabel North. 

Howard drew a great deal of comfort from this letter, 
although whether he had any right to do so, might be 
questioned by disinterested persons. Some time elapsed 
before he tried to analyze the reasons for any belief that 
his hopes were nearer of fulfillment. After viewing the 
whole matter judicially, however, or what he called so, 
he concluded that there was great virtue in her “ yet,” as 
applied to what she called his “ reasonable hope.” Then, 
again, she had said that she would “ try ” not to be in- 
fluenced in her decision, by the fact that he had saved 
her life, as if she found it difficult. Her steadiness under 
Kitty’s sharp raillery was another encouraging sign, as he 
viewed it. Finally her care for his safety, that appeared 
more than once upon the page, was somehow very sweet 
to think of. Were not all these things more than mere 
grains of comfort? He thought so, as he finally put the 
letter carefully away, after he had the words almost by 
heart. 


32 


REFLECTION. 


Isabel meanwhile had determined on making a call at 
one of her neighbors, a very young matron, whom she al- 
ready valued very highly, although she was a compara- 
tively new arrival. Mrs. Irving had made an absurdly 
youthful marriage, two years since, and was now but 
eighteen. 

“ Minnie,” as she now insisted on being called by Isa- 
bel, greeted her affectionately, for the liking had proved 
mutual, and after several topics had been touched upon, 
she said with a little flush of vexation that she evidently 
tried to conquer, “ Miss Clifton talks rather freely of 
people, does she not?” 

“ Unwarrantably, and mischievously sometimes, I am 
sorry to say,” replied Isabel, confident that Kitty had said 
something to pain Minnie. 

“ Thank you. I have her placed now, and shall not 
feel that she was exceptionally cruel in my case. It was 
not so much on my own account as Ted’s that I felt it,” 
she explained with a flush this time of pride, as she spoke 
his name, and a light in her eyes that she could not con- 
ceal. “ I know that I married very young, and am quite 
willing to grant that it might be unadvisable for most to 
do so thus early, but circumstances alter cases, and the 
conclusion should not be jumped at that my husband was 
a selfish man who took a mere girl at manifest disadvan- 
tage when away from her natural protectors. That is 
about the way Miss Clifton has seen fit to put it, but 
really I was foolish to have let it vex me at all. 

“ I certainly should not say what I have to any one be- 
sides you, but now that it has been said I will give you 
the facts in the case, for you are one of my few trusted 
friends. Possibly you may have to make a decision your- 


33 


A week's wooing. 


self some day, almost as quickly as I did, and if so, the 
precedent may be useful. I have heard something about 
a young man, and a will, from Kitty, but I fear in a dis- 
torted fashion. Yes, I can see that my supposition was 
correct," she added, laughingly. 

“ You are so different from the picture Kitty origi- 
nally drew of you, that I am sure I should never recog- 
nize the young man from her description. *My little story 
will not take long. Ted was twenty-five and I almost 
sixteen when we met on the steamer, soon after leaving 
New York for Liverpool. I am sure I was a rather 
gawky girl at that time (there is no other word for it) 
and perhaps that is why I appreciated Ted's really re- 
spectful and attentive manner toward me, in contrast with 
the pretended politeness of some, and the careless indif- 
ference to my awkwardness of others. Even a very young 
girl of ordinary quickness, has her own ideas of what is 
due to her dignity, and the funniest thing I ever heard of, 
if you will excuse the digression and personal bearing, 
came a year later, when a friend of mine overheard one 
of these careless ones say, ‘ By Jove, what a stunner ! 
Who would Have believed it ? I ought to have cultivated 
her acquaintance, don’t you know.’ What an oversight, 
was it not! but what good fortune to me that I was not 
deemed worth while. One morning on the steamer, as 
Ted sat down by a very pretty but frisky young widow, 
she said, without being aware that my chair was just be- 
hind hers — ‘ How is your discovery today ? Do not 
break her heart, Mr. Irving, when you have finished your 
delightful task of forming her! Now will you?’ 

“ 4 Really, she must answer that, Mrs. Trask. Could I, 
Minnie ?’ looking in an imperturbable way that had helped 


34 


REFLECTION. 


me already out of several difficult situations, for I per- 
fectly understood every glance of his. 

Mine ? Never ! You couldn’t ! ’ I exclaimed pa- 
thetically. 4 But, oh, Mr. Irving, I hope so that I shall 
do you credit after you have seen me safely through this 
awkward age.’ He and I both laughed, but I thought the 
widow was a little put out for once, with just a suspicion 
perhaps in her mind, that the laugh was upon her. When 
she was gone I said * I had a sharp rejoinder on my 
tongue’s end, about her heart being in more danger of 
breaking than mine, but I am glad I did not say it, aren’t 
you? It would have been rather pert perhaps to one so 
much older.’ 

44 4 No, it would not have been worth while even if you 
had been of the same age, besides your heart is a tender 
one, child, with all your spirit, while hers is hard and 
worldly. You know that, do you not?’ 

“ 4 Yes,’ I replied, 4 1 know both things,’ for my heart was 
suddenly very full of tenderness toward him for his 
watchful care of me, as I called it then. 

“ He looked at me quickly, as if to see whether any trace 
of coquetry was beneath my words, but he knew I could 
not use it with him, and only rejoined, 4 No, it would be 
a very unequal conflict, and quite unworthy of you to 
wage it. What are you reading now ?’ 

44 1 read a great deal on that voyage, for I was not very 
well when I came aboard. I had graduated too early at 
the High School, and it was partly for rest and change 
that my dear aunt took me away. When she died sud- 
denly at Rome, I hardly knew which way to turn, for 
she was my only close relative any nearer than New Zea- 
land. I had left there three years before almost broken 


35 


A week's wooing. 


hearted upon the tragic death of my father and mother, 
that I can hardly speak of yet; and the thought of a re- 
turn to my old home was unbearable. My dear friend 
and former teacher, Mrs. Faulconer, would welcome me 
to her heart and home in America, I knew, but she was 
in no way related, after all. Ted, who happened to be at 
the same pension, was my comforter and adviser, and I 
do not know what I should have done without him, un- 
accustomed as I was to so many things. He arranged 
for my temporary stay with an English family who had 
been especially kind in my distress, and upon their de- 
parture for Florence they insisted that I should continue 
with them until I could decide as to my further move- 
ments. 

“ Ted was still near me, and I asked him one day what 
he would advise, for it was quite time for my kind friends 
to be relieved of my care. ‘ There are two ways open to 
you/ he said, rather gravely, I thought, and after re- 
flecting a few moments proceeded : 4 One would be to 

sail next Wednesday for New York, place your slender 
resources in a bank there, and seek employment as a 
teacher, for which you have many qualifications. I am 
sure I could find you a sheltered place, in fact I have 
practically done so, subject to your approval/ 

“ 'Thank you !’ I said quickly, flushing a little, I fear, 
at his seeming haste to be rid of me, and then repenting 
in dismay for daring to wrong him so. * And the other 
way?’ I asked, after waiting a little for him to continue. 

“ His eyes sought mine for a moment, with something 
in their depths that almost startled me, though I could not 
quite tell why. He answered with an effort to speak com- 
posedly : ‘ The other way is one that many would blame 

36 


REFLECTION. 


you for choosing — if it were possible you could choose it ; 
and I should be still more blamed for advising it, as tak- 
ing an undue advantage of my position. Your youth, 
and strange loneliness, here, make it difficult for me to 
say what I would, lest I am swayed more by my own de- 
sires than your best interests. I do not care for the 
world’s opinion except as it may be a just one, but if your 
later judgment should convict me of a wrong done now, 

I could not well bear that. Consider well, therefore, and 
await your own good time before answering the question 
that will affect your whole life and mine; the question, 
Minnie, of whether you can henceforth trust your heart 
to me, for I love you most dearly.’ 

“ I must have felt his love before, for although his words 
thrilled me through and through, it seemed as if my heart 
had always belonged to him. I knew how he longed to 
take me in his arms, but I knew also that he would wait 
forever rather than hurry my decision. He would wait, 
but how he would suffer ! The clear conviction came to 
my very soul that the answer could be made as truly then 
as ever in our lives. M^hy delay, therefore? Even an 
infant knows some things, I suppose,’ was all I could 
think of to say. 

“ * They are very assured at the time as to what they 
want, but their horizon is a limited one ; their experience 
far from profound,’ he answered, with an attempted smile, 
but not a word more would he say, I well knew, for 
the love that racked his poor heart. My own was so 
stirred that I could only murmur : ‘ Look into my eyes, 

dear, and see if the horizon is not limitless there !’ 


37 


* 

a week's wooing. 

“ He caught me to him almost too quickly to look. We 
were married on my sixteenth birthday, and as we came 
from the church, he said : 

“ ‘ I wonder if I ought not to ask you on each anniver- 
sary if you are still sure it was best?’ 

“ * Try it if you dare !' I retorted. ‘ Besides, you do not 
wonder anything of the sort. You have no compunctions 
at all, but have settled down into the comfortable belief 
that I knew my mind earlier than most, and that excep- 
tional cases require exceptional treatment. Isn't that so?' 
As an answer was unnecessary, at least by word of mouth, 
I proceeded to enlighten him further. 4 1 am quite able 
to enter into all your feelings about these things, Ted, 
which ought to be sufficient evidence to you of a matured 
intellect. Do you suppose, for instance, that I am not 
aware how you fairly exulted over having gained me at 
the most impressionable age, so that you could fashion 
and form me at your pleasure!' 

“ ‘ I will not deny what your preternaturally early sagac- 
ity has discovered, although I never thought of you as 
particularly pliant, either, and I certainly warned you in 
advance.' 

“ ‘ Yes, but you bent the twig so early that I do not 
wonder you are afraid you will never hear the last of it.’ 

“ ‘ On the contrary,’ said Ted, ‘ I am a sadly unrepent- 
ant sinner. You made your choice of the two ways, you 
rash and reckless girl, and there is no escape now !' 

“ The moral of all this is,” concluded Minnie, “ that 
there are exceptions to all rules. You believe so, do you 
not ?” she asked, looking so very innocently at Isabel, out 
of her great eyes that the latter laughed outright, and ex- 
claimed, “ You transparent creature !” 


38 


REFLECTION. 


“ Perhaps I have been artfully so, but how quick you 
were to see the moral ! It must be an exceptional man 
who has made you see things so quickly !” 

Isabel did not mind the personal bearing that this con- 
versation had assumed at its close, for Minnie’s real so- 
licitude for her welfare was so apparent that she felt 
comforted by it, somehow. 

Life had been rather hard for her the past year, at her 
uncle’s, where she had been since her, mother’s death. 
The shadow of that affliction had been so heavy across 
her pathway, and her uncle had done so little to brighten 
or make easier the path. He called himself a just man, 
but he could not forget that his sister had married to suit 
herself, “ thrown herself away,” as he called it. That 
she never repented the step, only made it the worse, and 
it would have been a stern satisfaction to him if she had 
been dependent on his bounty at her husband’s death. 
Instead of that he found that Mr. North had managed 
to secure an annuity sufficient to keep her in comfort dur- 
ing her life. Knowing, however, that it would cease at 
her death, she could only confide her daughter to Mr. 
Kemp’s care, with the hope that he would be more con- 
siderate to his niece than he had been to his sister. Pos- 
sibly he had meant to be, in his own way, but it 
almost seemed to Isabel, sometimes, as if she was made to 
suffer for what he regarded as her mother’s fault. When 
the first vexation had passed away at the use of her name 
in the will, the thought had flashed across her mind of 
how much good the money might have done if the impos- 
sible conditions had not been there. Undoubtedly, but 
as they were present, the whole matter was dismissed, 
and now — was there a difference? In all honesty she 


39 


A week's WOOING. 


was forced to admit that there was, and perhaps a vast, 
vital one. Mr. West was honorable, brave (had he not 
proved it?), congenial in every way; and she was sure 
that she liked him very much; but did she, or, rather, 
could she ever love him? He would care for her ten- 
derly always, with that chivalrous devotion and delicate 
feeling that appealed to the best within her ; and she had 
felt, too, the power, the honest, forceful passion of the 
man, the power that attracts a woman of strong feeling, 
when allied to those other qualities. She could not have 
loved an effeminate or faddy man, any more than a gross 
one. There was one thing that puzzled her all through 
these reflections, recurring as it did with ever increasing 
strength and sweetness. It was the joy in her heart when 
she thought of his return as so near. “Restored to me !” 
as if the one who but recently she believed might never 
come again, now really belonged to her. So he did, if 
she would but have it so. Would she? The answer 
could not yet be made, but she woke once that night from 
a dream with tears of joy in her eyes as she said, “ Re- 


stored !” 



40 


Thursday — Restoration. 


It was characteristic of both of them that their meet- 
mg should have been so quiet a one. She gave him her 
hand with a look and word of most cordial greeting, and 
he took it without any attempt to make it mean more, by 
glance or motion. 

He saw that she had suffered anxiety for him, and that 
she was struggling with perplexities which today, at 
least, must be left with no attempt of his to aid her. 

She respected him the more for his restraint, in his 
own fervent longing, a fervor that she understood better 
than once. “ Your ankle is better, or you would not have 
come, I hope,” she said ; but she very much feared he 
would have come today in any event. 

“ It was enough better to venture the journey,” he 
answered with a smile. “ Yes, it will be well enough for 
me to travel anywhere in a few days.” 

It was innocently said, but as their eyes met for a mo- 
ment, the thought came to them both of what the words 
might mean, if it were possible to agree on a point still 
at issue! 

Isabel blushed and wondered why she was not more 
vexed at having seemed to notice the possible application 
of his words. Perhaps it was because of that strange 
happiness that kept coming to her heart as the words of 
her dream recurred — “ Restored to me !” They seemed 
to fill her heart so that there was little room for smaller 


4i 


A week's wooing. 


things, and yet she knew that the decision which was to 
mean so much to their lives would not be made today — 
or not in words. She must have time to understand it 
better, to try to divide the joy at his safe return from 
that vastly greater thing which his heart sought — if, in- 
deed, they were divisible. 

“ It is a great comfort to see you looking so well and 
happy, Miss North. (The name actually sounded formal 
to her now.) It is better even than the anxiety your 
letter showed for my slight mishap, and I was so cruel 
as to find that a comfort, too !" 

“ How could you be so hard-hearted ! Yes, I am very 
happy to know that you are well, to see it for myself; 
happy for just living on this good earth — that we so near- 
ly lost. I cannot say more now — it is so hard to — sepa- 
rate things." 

She ended with almost a sob, as all that might have 
been rushed again before her vision — the old dread. 

“ I understand," he answered gravely, “ and you shall 
tell me tomorrow whether there is ever again to be sepa- 
ration of any sort — whether you wish it." 

She thanked him for this consideration of her feelings, 
with a glance so full of possibilities in its eloquence that 
he realized it might be difficult to keep his promise good 
for so many hours. They talked unreservedly now 
upon every topic but the one nearest their hearts, until 
finally he accused her, laughingly, of drawing him out for 
some dark purpose of her own. 

“ I cannot conceive the object of such a minute exami- 
nation into my thoughts, aspirations and very ideals. You 
see how nervous and embarrassed I have become, for there 
has been no chance for any preparation. I am obviously 


42 


1 t - / . . 

RESTORATION. 

taken at a disadvantage, and trust therefore that your 
object is a good one, with no interested motive in the 
background. ,, 

“ 1 cannot give you any assurance of that !” she replied. 

“ Are you quite sure that you do not want me to have 
interested motives? Really, I have been both interested x 
and edified, and I am sure you will approve the object if 
you ever learn what it is !” 

“ I am devoured with curiosity to learn, for a glimmer- 
ing idea presents itself that I have been made to show off 
my paces, and that some of the ambling has been any- 
thing but graceful. Tell me, I pray you, whether I stood 
the ordeal well. Am I satisfactory ?” 

“ I am afraid that is a leading question !” 

“ Possibly, if you take it that way !” 

“ I think it will be safer to discuss our neighbors now,” 
she concluded, with a smile. 

“ Did you say that you had called on both Kitty Clifton 
and Mrs. Irving since I have been gone?” he asked, in 
pursuance of this last hint. 

“ Yes, and excuse me if I do not dwell on Kitty much. 

It is hard for me to talk of her patiently, or even do her 
justice, I fear. Of Mrs. Irving I could talk a long time 
without tiring, for I admire her greatly, and am begin- 
ning to love her, I believe.” 

“ The beginning is the main thing, always, the rest I 
am sure will come — in Minnie’s case, I mean, particularly, 
of course,” he hastened to add. “ You wonder at my 
familiar use of her name,” he laughingly continued, “ but 
I became very well acquainted with both her and her 
husband when I met them abroad last year.” 


43 


A week's wooing. 


“ Then I must say she was almost artful in not even 
mentioning that she knew you in her story of exceptions." 

“ What was that story, if I may be allowed the privi- 
lege of hearing it? It really has an interesting sound, 
there are so many exceptions that have to be made to gen- 
eral rules." 

“ So Minnie thought," replied Isabel, “ but I could not 
think of telling you such a personal affair as that." 

“ At present , did you say ?" 

“ You are audacious, as well as insistent !" 

He looked so pleased at this severe indictment that she 
wanted to add “ incorrigible " to the list, but concluded to 
await future events for that. 

“ Their marriage was a very romantic one, I believe," 
said Howard. “ She was a mere girl at the time, and he 
was blamed by some for influencing such a child in so 
serious a matter; but I presume Mrs. Irving (I see you 
prefer that I should so characterize her) considered her 
case exceptional. I wonder if she thought others might be? 
I think Minnie, Mrs. Irving, would help me if she could ! 
Yes, I quite agree with you, Miss North, that every case 
stands by itself, and that parallels are dangerous to make. 
The particular persons involved have to decide such 
things." How did he know that she was just about to 
say pretty much that, and how high-handed to answer 
for her in this way ! 

“ I do not quite understand why I have allowed myself 
to talk as much as I have with you about things affecting 
Minnie so deeply," she said, with attempted severity in 
her tone. 

“ I cannot see that you have divulged much, but I think 
it would be well to question yourself as to the reasons 
why confidences to me are becoming easy !" 


44 


RESTORATION. 


“ How presuming ! Mr. West.” 

“ it is half as hard for you to say that word as for 
me to call you * Miss North/ I think we might allow our- 
selves the use of ‘ Isabel ’ and ‘ Howard/ Are we not 
good enough friends for that?” 

As he used her name for the first time, such a sweet- 
ness came to his very heart in the uttered word merely, 
that she saw him suddenly pale with suppressed emotion ; 
and, turning her head away as if she had looked without 
right into the secret chamber of his soul, she answered, 
gently : “ It shall be as you wish.” 

They were together a long time on this day of their 
reunion, for it was almost like that ; and it seemed to her 
as if he had somehow earned the right to linger by her 
side by his patient waiting, even if that had been rather 
an enforced virtue in his two days’ absence. Time was 
measured differently now from what it had been at their 
first meeting, for then she had thought of a week as a 
preposterously short time for a wooing, and could still 
declare so, indeed ; but it seemed now as if she had known 
him for so long, his needs, his hopes and wishes. All 
this, notwithstanding that time fairly sped in his com- 
pany, for even now the moment approached when they 
must part for the day. A silence soon came over them 
that was hardly broken during the last half hour. 

They were sitting on the Battery, where she had 
watched him struggling for life, as it then seemed, and 
again the words of her dream and waking thoughts re- 
turned to her — “ Restored to me !” 

Why not to her? Why strive against what her exult- 
ant heart told her at the very moment was the sweetest 
truth she should ever know. Tomorrow he was to have 


45 


A week's wooing. 


her answer. Tomorrow she was to tell as true a heart 
as ever throbbed for woman to go its way in such peace 
as might be found in the world beyond her, or rejoice his 
soul forevermore by bidding him to abide henceforth 
close to her heart He sat with his head so profiled that 
she could glance at him unobserved, and she felt that he 
did not wish, perhaps hardly dared, to meet her eyes, re- 
membering, as he must, the promise that she felt she had 
in some sense exacted from him. She almost wished it 
had not been given, for the truth came to her now, with- 
out power to stem the tide, the irresistible conviction that 
she loved him, eternally, unchangeably! 

Her heart was so full, and she so longed for him to 
clasp her close that she could not trust herself to words, 
but arose, and silently they passed on until they reached 
her door. 

" Tomorrow !” he said, as he turned from her. He had 
kept his word at a cost in restraint that she could meas- 
ure better now than when she had exacted it. 

She wondered which of them suffered the most in de- 
ferring the words that should transfigure their very lives. 
He must know, already — “For I love you so, Howard,” 
she murmured to herself, dwelling on that last word in 
lingering delight. 



46 


F riday — Reparation 


It might have been hard for Isabel to explain why she 
should feel that reparation was necessary for anything; 
yet that was her feeling as she walked toward the Bat- 
tery, where they had agreed to meet. She could not 
convict herself of any real fault in her attitude toward 
Howard before the rescue, although if she had then felt 
the deep significance of many things, as she now did, her 
action would have been far different, naturally. 

She smiled to think how slight a thing it had recently 
seemed for him to wait a day for her answer; yet how 
hard that waiting had been for both ! 

The color rose to her cheek as she wondered what he 
would have said, or done, if she had yesterday bade him 
look into her eyes, as Minnie had bidden another. . 

She could not but admire the resolution he had shown 
in not looking, at least in any such way; and hereafter 
he might drink as deeply there as he desired ! How well 
she knew what her answer was to be, and how long she 
seemed to have known it, and yet this was but the sixth 
day of his wooing! The teil-tale color still tinged her 
cheek as they met, a few minutes later. Her eyes sought 
his, timidly at first, but changing to such boundless trust 
and love, that his cheek paled with the force of his pas- 
sion, while his eyes responded unutterable things. It 
was a place where they could not do much more than 


47 


a week's wooing. 


gaze, and whisper a little of what filled their hearts 
with joy. 

He only said, “ Your answer, darling, blesses my whole 
life. Will you sail out on the bay with me now, where I 
can tell you so much more? I cannot promise to ever 
bring you back again. Do you dare to go?” 

“ To the end of the earth, with you, dearest !” she said. 
Her eyes filled with happy tears, while her lips quivered 
as she thought how barren of love the past year had been 
in that hardness about her which she had almost feared 
would yet harden her. Now all was glorified in this 
deepening joy, that she could scarcely yet realize was hers 
to keep forevermore, as she clung closer still to his arm. 

“ It is just to make sure, you know,” she explained, 
“and you thought once I might hold your love lightly! 
Does it feel like that now?” she asked with a still tighter 
grasp. “ Do you mind my showing so much of what I 
feel? Why should I starve myself, and you, too?” 

“ Why, indeed,” he echoed. She was merciful toward 
him, in his inability to find words strong enough to ex- 
press more, as yet; and hastened toward the boat, quite 
regardless of what might overtake her when once aboard 
and in his power. 

She paused in apparent amazement, however, as they 
were about to embark, exclaiming : “ How does it hap- 

pen that the sails are already hoisted? Did you dare to 
assume what my answer would be ! If it had been ‘ no/ 
you certainly would not have invited me, and you could 
only have sighed, ‘ love’s labour’s lost,’ as you dropped 
sail again ! ” 

“ I will explain all about it when we are well under 
way. You won't refuse to go at this last moment on 
account of a little thing like that ?” 


48 


REPARATION. 


I am not sure but I ought to, you previous creature. 
\ou have no idea of what a shock it gave me when I 
first realized it.” 

He installed her at the wheel almost immediately on 
finding that she could steer. 

“ I thought the helmsman was to be let severely alone, 
hardly spoken to, much less treated as you treat me in my 
defenceless state,” she exclaimed, when they were well 
out upon the bay. 

“ There are exceptions in this as in some other things,” 
explained her radiant companion, fairly exulting at the 
present position of affairs. 

“ I verily believe that this was a part of your plan, too, 
or plot, rather; but what can I do to protect myself? I 
suppose it would be mutiny for me to desert my post.” 

“ Something very like it,” he admitted, and added, as 
she looked about her anxiously, upon a renewal of demon- 
strations from him. “ You need not fear interlopers out 
here. We have reached the blessed retiracy at last that 
I have been sighing for.” 

“ It is a great comfort to be assured of it,” she said, 
relinquishing herself to a full enjoyment of the situation. 
“ This retiracy that you speak of, and the novelty of it 
all, is a revelation to one who has always been considered 
undemonstrative. I have never invited such things — 
before.” 

“But do now, again! What a confession!” 

Presently he said : “ You may not be aware that this 

is my own yawl, and that I generally have a man with 
me to help run her, cook, etc., but today, out of special 
consideration for you, I have dispensed with his ser- 
vices.” 


49 


a week's wooing. 


“ How thoroughly unselfish you are ! ” 

“ I try to be,” he said in modest deprecation, “ and I 
thought your actions might be freer from embarrassment 
in his absence. You have me quite at your mercy, you 
see, and can do with me as you please.” 

“ What a very broad hint !” she exclaimed, pursing her 
hps in a pretty anxiety, lest she was keeping the boat 
“ up” too much, she protested afterwards ; but he had 
mistaken the action entirely, he explained, in apology for 
his summary response. “ Still, if you wish to take it 
back, Isabel — ” 

“I cannot see much difference, can you?” she asked, 
a moment later. “ But, seriously, Howard, I am greatly 
surprised about your owning this boat, for if you really 
do, and hire a man besides, you must be quite rich, and 
I have supposed all the time that you were anything but 
that.” 

“ Worse remains ; for I have a delightful little home a 
few miles down the coast, perched upon a cliff, and a 
snug cove beside it which makes a harbor of my own. 
Money enough also to support these things comfortably, 
and you into the bargain. Yet I was not happy until I 
met the fair, the divine, the incomparable Isabel.” 

“ But then, dear, there is no possible excuse for hur- 
rying to avail ourselves of that double legacy, for we do 
not need it.” 

“ We certainly do not, and there is no reason for un- 
seemly haste in our marriage, as you feared. What a 
relief to you — but can this be — do I see a shade of dis- 
appointment on your brow?” 

77 How can you think it possible of me, Howard !” 

“Well, just a shadow of a shade, then. Will you not 
allow to so much? Had you not almost made up your 
mind to sacrifice preconceived ideas, dare the world’s 
opinion, and actually marry me — tomorrow.” 


50 


REPARATION. 


“ It was not so much of a sacrifice when it began to be 
clear that it was best — and then, I felt so strongly that I 
must repay you, not for my life, darling, if that must be 
kept out of the account, but for not trusting you quite 
enough at first. I thought it would please you if I could 
consent, and then I found I was pleasing myself. Are 
you not ashamed to have extracted such large admis- 
sions?” she exclaimed, hiding upon his shoulder the face 
that had become rose-hued in the utterance of her con- 
fession. She did not hurry to emerge from so safe a 
refuge, but finally said as she raised her head, “ Oh, 
Howard, it has been so hard, sometimes, at my uncle’s 
since mother died, and the shelter of your love means 
so much to me.” 

“ Then, darling, it shall be tomorrow ! Life’s too short 
for us to live any of it apart. Let us bless Mr. Hedge, 
after all, instead of censuring, for I am sure that it was 
faithfulness to an ideal that he never attained which has 
been the means of uniting our lives. We will take his 
money as he desired, without any grave fear that it will 
really spoil us. If some carp, we know that it is purely in- 
cidental and accidental.” 

“ I do not know what uncle will say about all this, but 
I feel almost as if he had lost the right to care. Do you 
wish it very much?” she murmured, smiling bravely 
through wet lashes, for she had been strangely moved at 
the thought of all that it would mean to her life — and 
his. It was only a few days before that she had been 
debating in her mind how she could change conditions 
that had grown almost unbearable, and she had nearly 
decided to go out into the world and fight its battles alone 


5i 


A week's wooing. 


— but now her world was here, beside her — so close, 
and she was so unutterably happy. 

“ That being the case, Howard, of course I must try 
and tell you of it. Is that the contrariety of the sex, do 
you suppose, trying to tell what is unutterable ? ” 

“ I refuse to consider you upon any general lines, you 
are in a class by yourself, and at the very head of the 
class, too. Never mind if your hard-hearted uncle does 
not realize it. We will beard him in his den eventually, 
but at present let us consider more cheerful things. 1 
want you to see how nicely the ‘ Glimpse 5 is fitted up in- 
side." As he opened the companionway she exclaimed 
in delight at the pleasant surprise, which was just before 
her. “ You see the boat is about all cabin, except the 
little coop forward where Peter bunks, and cooks some- 
times. I never carry many passengers, and the cockpit is 
small, giving the more room within. There is a good 
berth on each side, well forward, and they can be cur- 
tained off into separate rooms if desired ; while here close 
to us is the cozy living part with table and chairs." 

“ And on the table a bunch of my favorite lilies, you 
old darling! You are quite old, you know, compared to 
me. Twenty-one and twenty-six — just the difference 
in ages that I always said (to myself) was right. How 
strange that it should have happened so." 

“Very! I wonder if that was one of the factors im- 
pelling you to a decision. I have dared to place a few 
lines upon the card attached to the lilies. The thoughts 
expressed are not original with me this time, as you will 
be glad to know, although my endorsement is most 
hearty. 


52 


REPARATION. 


“ ‘ I may not speak in words, dear, 

But let my words be flowers — 
***** 

They plead for smiles and kisses 
As summer pleads for showers. 
***** 

And press their heart-leaves back love, 

To drink their deeper passion, 

For their sweetest, mildest perfume 
Is the whisper of my love/ ” 

Her only answer was by inhaling the fragrance deeply 
from the lilies’ centers ; but she came close enough to his 
lips for the message that the lines invoked. 

As they sat in the shadow of the sail, on her return 
from a tour of investigation of the cabin, she said : 
“ Your very pretty lines, or the one in particular, 4 As 
summer pleads for showers/ reminds me of a favorite 
little song of mine 4 A Summer Shower/ You must have 
heard it — 

44 4 She was going to the town 
In a fresh print gown/ 

44 And then you remember another part of it, 

4 But if you’re in the shade, 

With a very pretty maid, 

It cannot matter much what the weather may 
be ; 

And he must have said his say; 

For in his her fingers lay, 

As he took a thread of meadow-grass and mea- 
sured for the ring/ ” 

44 That is very pretty indeed, and I never saw a hint 
more delicately conveyed in my life. Hold out your hand, 
Isabel, and let me measure for that ring at once.” 


53 


A week's WOOING. 


“ I protest, Howard, that nothing was farther from my 
thoughts. I shall never dare to sing any of my little 
favorites for you again, unless you absolve me from all 
intent.” 

“ Having been duly absolved, may I ask you to lay 
the cloth for our modest repast, while I am mooring the 
boat to that buoy just ahead? The owner is away for a 
week, and would be glad to favor me under the circum- 
stances, and it saves the bother of anchoring. If you 
will open that little door you will find on the shelves 
something suitable for a frugal luncheon, and in the ice- 
box there are cool drinks.” As they sat at the table, Isa- 
bel’s eyes danced with delight at the whole happy sur- 
prise which he had planned for her, and the deliciously 
odd feeling as she called it of sitting opposite to him in 
such a snug corner, afloat, and quite apart from the 
world. 

“ I am glad you feel at home here,” he said a little 
later, “ I have been trying hard to get used to entertain- 
ing an angel. I shall never be content to cruise in the 
Glimpse alone after this. You have called it almost like 
home here, and now would you like me to tell you 
about the real home that will be yours tomorrow, and 
for our lives through, dear? The home, darling where 
we will spend our honeymoon, if you like.” 

“ I should like that above all things, and to go there in ^ 
this very boat if we might,” she answered, flushing with 
pleasure, and the thought of how few hours of maiden- 
hood remained to her. His zvife so soon ! 

“ Peter won’t mind missing the trip will he ?” she 
added, with an affectation of anxiety. 

“ Not he, for Peter is a philosopher, as well as a mar- 
ried man of experience, and he is well content always in 


54 


REPARATION. 

attending to his multifarious duties about the house, 
where his wife is cook. They live in the ell part and 
keep things going in my absences, which have heretofore 
been numerous. So you do not wish to hear anything 
about your new home until you actually arrive there?” 
She had not said so, but he had divined it perfectly well, 
which did not surprise her now. He seemed to know her 
very thoughts, she declared. There was a free wind 
going back to Seaforth, and they arrived there all too 
quickly for both. 

“After today no more separations. Think of that!” 
he exclaimed in parting. 

“ It is just what I was thinking of, you wonderful 
seven days’ wooer.” 

“ The seventh day’s wonders are yet to come. I will 
try and improve before then.” 

“ You need to, sadly, I am afraid, judging by some of 
your remarks — but I forgive you for threatening still 
more surprises. Good-bye, my own,” and she closed the 
door before he could make any rejoinder. 

“ Who is the young man that just left you at the door, 
Isabel?” asked her uncle, a few moments after she had 
entered the house. His tone was so forbidding, that if 
her heart had not been full of joy, the harshness would 
have chilled her at the outset. 

“ That was Mr. West, Uncle Henry, whom I am going 
to marry tomorrow, in accordance with Mr. Hedge’s 
will.” 

She thought it might as well come at once, even if an 
explosion followed, and braced herself to withstand the 
shock of his reproof. 


55 


A week's wooing. 


“ If you do,” exclaimed the astonished and angry man, 
“ it will be in direct opposition to my wishes. I am sur- 
prised that a niece of mine can so far forget what is due 
to my station, as to take such a hasty and ill-considered 
step; one that will bring censure and ridicule on both of 
us. You will be a graceless and thankless girl if you 
persist in such arrant folly.” 

I am a very happy woman, uncle, one that loves so 
dearly that she can understand, now, how your only sister 
forgave you, finally, for opposing her best happiness, as 
you do mine at present. Doubtless I have thought more 
of this happiness, than of your station, although I do not 
think that will be affected adversely by my action. I 
thank you for the shelter your roof has afforded for the 
past year, since I have been cut off from my dear mother’s 
love ; but I wish that you could have given with it a little 
of the affection that would have been such a consolation 
to one so sorely stricken. I have tried to do my duty by 
you while here, and I know that it is no part of that to 
tell you your own ; but, uncle, do not lead an utterly hard 
and loveless life forever. I speak not in anger, but in 
pity for your loneliness, and because I am commencing 
to know myself the wonderful happiness that comes in 
making another happy.” 

She looked appealingly at him a moment through the 
tears that filled her eyes, for she was very happy, and he 
so lonely — he must be that, with all the hardness that 
had grown into his life, and he was her mother’s brother 
after all. He made no movement, but as she turned and 
left him, he repeated musingly, “ a hard and loveless life.” 

Had that been all, and nothing left of it now but loneli 
ness — to the end? 


S 6 


reparation. 


Isabel was thankful that her love for Howard had 
proved so strong a bulwark, as to keep her from an angry 
retort, in this dreaded conversation with her uncle, which 
was happily a thing, now, of the past. 

How that love had transformed her, since it had sunk 
deep into her heart, with power to control her every 
thought and action. 

All before had been taken on faith, the simple, but as- 
sured faith of a pure maiden, that if love knocked at her 
heart, she would know its summons, and answer truly. 
But the summons had never come until lately, and then 
so strangely and suddenly, that she had hardly believed 
it could be the real call to her heart at first. How well 
she knew today. 

She was glad it had come to her thus early in life, not 
so early as with Minnie, but still early; and it seemed 
a distinct gain, knowing her heart now so well, that 
their lives should join at once. She had seen so many 
put aside love’s young dream (or as near that as they 
were capable of knowing) and take up unworthier things, 
growing worldly until what should have been the crown 
of all, was merely a so-called advantageous match; that 
it had often sickened the very soul within her. She had 
not feared that this hardness would grow in her, but it 
seemed tonight better for her, better for all true men 
and women, to join their fates, when once the call was 
sure, as early as circumstances would allow. She was 
conscious that no “career” could compare with the happy 
journey before her. This last thought had come to her 
as she remembered a discussion which took place in her 
graduating class five years before, at the old High School. 
That class was considered one of the brightest hitherto 


57 


a week's wooing. 


graduated, and she one of its brightest lights. There was 
a great deal of enthusiasm among its members regarding 
the “ higher education/' so much in vogue, and Isabel 
had brought out a storm of protest by her declaration that 
the whole thing was as much a fad as a real conviction. 
Several of the girls were very earnest about it, and the 
teachers inclined to applaud, if not stimulate this deter- 
mination to drink more deeply at the fount of knowledge. 

“ Why, Isabel," exclaimed one exasperated fellow stu- 
dent, “ think what you are losing, by turning away at 
the very threshold! Do you not realize how, a college 
course would broaden and deepen your mental life, giv- 
ing you new capacities for enjoyment; besides the ac- 
quirements gained might yet serve you well should you 
be obliged to earn your living — if you are thinking of 
the practical side." 

“As to the broadening and deepening part, I am afraid 
I do not realize it, as much as you wish, Mabel ; I mean 
the efficacy of the university to accomplish much unless 
there is something within to respond. If there is, I hope 
my own use now of life about me will be wise enough 
with my present slender acquirements, to grow larger 
every year. I hope I have learned something of how and 
what to read or even study if some special branch at- 
tracts enough to warrant the effort. Just at present na- 
ture, common sense or some other kind monitor, tells me 
to conserve my forces. I will admit that if I was intend- 
ing to teach in the higher grades, a college education 
would be a prime necessity, but if I ever teach at all it 
will be the very young, who will profit or otherwise by 
my efforts. 

“ No, for me, the higher education would be simply 
following a fad, or indulging a luxury, not as in your 

58 


REPARATION. 


case, Mabel, for you are thirsty and fairly aflame for 
more knowledge, if you will excuse my somewhat mixed 
metaphors.” 

Mabel laughed, and Isabel declared something was 
accomplished if she had lost for a moment the over-earn- 
est look, that was almost a fine frenzy. " You take it 
all so very seriously, that I am afraid it will pull upon 
your nerves. I am not solicitous at all about Jennie, for 
she is one of those who just absorbs like a sponge ; 
acquirement is no effort, and not very much credit, and 
sometimes I think not much benefit, for real growth does 
not seem to result.” 

“ Well,” said Mabel, finally, “ we all have to make our 
own decisions, but I am relieved to find that you are not 
so antiquated in your notions, as to think that there is 
nothing for you to do now, but wave gracefully in the 
breeze, like a lily upon its stem, waiting to be plucked. 
All that nonsense is outgrown, with these larger inter- 
ests in women’s lives, and if marriage occurs at all it is 
where there is intellectual fitness, above all.” 

“ If you will agree, Mabel, not to overwork, I am sure 
you can depend on my not waving at anybody, grace- 
fully, frantically or otherwise,” said Isabel in conclusion ; 
and now in retrospect, she found that although Mabel 
had pushed on, and gained a coveted professorship, her 
health had suffered. Jennie had finished her college ca- 
reer comfortably, plumper than ever, married, and was 
already a proud mother. 


59 


Saturday — Realization. 


As the Glimpse sailed out of Seaforth, Isabel said : “ As 
I pace the quarter-deck of your good ship (certainly not 
more than a quarter one), I grow reflective and must 
needs philosophize. That old question has been upper- 
most in my thoughts, whether anticipation or realization 
is better, and I have finally decided in favor of the latter. 
You see the whole thing is settled, and that is a great 
relief, for there is always a dread present of something to 
come at the last moment that will shatter the beautiful 
dream. You need not laugh, sir, for you know it is a 
very serious matter, and almost like a dream, too. You 
were only laughing through sheer happiness, you say? 
Then I suppose I must be mollified, and will proceed 
when I can free myself from your decidedly marked at- 
tentions. Only for a moment, dear, for I must keep her 
on her course. In our own particular case you will admit 
that there were special reasons why we should breathe 
much easier when the ceremony was fairly over, and we 
found ourselves literally launched, away from a 
too censorious world. That is to say, Kitty was censo- 
rious, I am sure. Could it have been a case of ‘sour 
grapes/ Howard? But how foolish I am to put such 
an idea into your head. The world in general will soon 
forget entirely, or else wisely conclude that it was our 
own affair after all. Did you say keep her off a point? 
Aye, aye, sir! I will try to keep my weather-eye open. 


6q 


REALIZATION. 


And now that I have finished my reflections, you can talk, 
Howard. Tell me how everything went off in church. 
Did I look all right?” 

“Did you! Why stagger me with such a question t 
You looked good enough to eat — beautiful enough to 
make me fancy you a goddess, and wonder at my own 
temerity in daring to hold you to earth, to say nothing of 
my arms.” 

“ Now, Howard, I was not making a bid for this, al- 
though it is very nice, of course, but I only meant whether 
I appeared nervous.” 

“ Not a bit of it ! You braced up wonderfully at the 
critical moment, and even Kitty looked at you approving- 
ly. Her admiration may have been from what she con- 
sidered your assurance, but she did approve at any rate. 
As to Minnie, she was fairly radiant over your appear- 
ance, and I am sure I detected a complacent air, as if it 
was all, or a good deal of it, her doing. Keep her off, 
when she shivers that way. I always do.” 

“What do you mean, Howard ! Oh, the boat, of course, 
I thought you meant Minnie, and it sounded horribly 
cold-blooded to cast her off because she had the shakes. 
I once had a touch of fever and ague myself, and know 
the feeling. By the way, how came you to see so much 
of other pretty women, when the peerless one you have 
described, was by your side ?” 

“ And I am sure I saw your uncle at the back of the 
church,” he proceeded, quite oblivious of her strictures. 

“ Talk of nether mill-stones ! Was his heart touched 
at last, you conqueror of all men?” concluded Howard. 

“ My realm will be a very confined one, a narrow hori- 
zon will bound it. This idea may seem very fine to you 

61 


A week's wooing. 


now, Howard, but by and by when you are sighing for 
a social career, what a disappointment my restricted 
views will be to you! It is no use, it is not in me, my 
dear. All the striving and climbing and achieving little 
pitiful social successes, that make so much of some lives, 
will remain commonplace, vulgar and undesirable to us, 
I trust. Our circle will grow slowly, but it will comprise 
sterling people, who will not be stupid either; for it is 
not necessary to be wicked in order to be charming, in 
spite of a great deal of cheap talk to that effect. 

“ Am I heading right, now, dear ? I mean the boat, of 
course, for you need not hurry to agree with my ideas. 
There must be some points where we can agree to dis- 
agree. I am very fond of milk for instance, but don’t 
care for cream, of which you have said you never can 
get enough.” 

“ Quite right,” as our English cousins say, and when 
we are in Devonshire next month I will remember it. 
Perhaps I have not mentioned that after a fortnight in 
your new home, we go abroad for a few weeks. Just 
London, the south of England, and Switzerland, and back 
again to your nest in America.” 

“ Another delightful surprise. I certainly knew noth- 
ing of this plan, but, of course, it will be very nice to 
go, and then nicer still to get back to ‘ the nest ’ as you 
call it.” 

The Nest ’ is literally its name. Does it not look like 
one, for you can just see it now, close against the cliff. 
The course from here is northeast by north, half north. 
That is right, keep her as she is ; but the wind has nearly 
failed, and it will be dark, or rather moonlight, before we 
arrive.” 


6a 


REALIZATION. 


Again, how delightful — to arrive at the enchanted 
castle by the moon’s pale light. I verily believe you have 
arranged that, too.” 

One more surprise awaits you — a visitor next week ; 
of course not the first week. But how disappointed you 
look. Will your Uncle Billy be so very much in the way 
for a day or two?” 

Dear Uncle Billy, my good one, and good angel al- 
ways to me, and many beside. What a contrast to Uncle 
Henry, his own brother, but you only saw him a mo- 
ment.” 

True, but I liked him at once, and he has promised 
to come. I thought it would please you.” 

‘ What do you think now,” she exclaimed, suddenly, 
as she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, 
in her delight at this last manifestation of his planning 
for her happiness. 

“ And for so many other things that I had been think- 
ing of. It came over me all at once, and I could not hold 
off any longer; and why, indeed, should I, now, darling?” 

“ Why, indeed,” he echoed, “ or I.” 

She continued presently, “Uncle Billy is the best man 
in the world, excepting one. He is the dearest, bravest, 
most sentimental old darling, you ever saw. Mother once 
told me that the woman he loved, in his youth, was the 
most beautiful being she ever saw, both in looks and 
character. She died just before the day set for their 
marriage, but instead of making him an embittered man, 
it seemed to ennoble him. He said to my mother, ‘ I had 
been far from perfect, before I met her, Hattie, as you 
well know, and the least I can do for the priceless bounty 
of her love and trust, is to be as near as possible what she 


63 


a week's wooing. 


idealized in me, although Carrie never liked the term'. 
He met trouble and disappointment enough, afterwards, 
in financial reverses and deceptions of so-called friends, 
to make him lose faith in everything, but he only said, 
4 These things are the common lot of many, but think 
what I have known, what I still possess, in her love !’ I 
should have gone to him, soon, if I had not met you, 
Howard. Not to become a burden on his slender purse, 
but for consolation, and then advice as to the first step 
in earning my living. Do you know, he is the veriest 
matchmaker in the world. He always has what he calls 
a ‘ case,’ on hand. * Who is it now V I asked the last time 
that I saw him. * Do you still believe, Uncle Billy, that 
a happy marriage is the cure for all ills?’ 

“ His eyes sparkled as he replied, ‘ Pretty nearly that, 
my dear, pretty near. I have a young man on my mind 
now, who will soon carry out my theory unless all signs 
fail/ 

“ 4 Why has he been deferring V I asked. 

“ ‘ The eternal problem of the day — " can it be 
afforded ? ” A year ago I told him he would af- 
ford it well enough, when he cared enough. He 
flushed at my way of putting it, and said some- 
thing about a man (and woman, too,), having to 
live in a certain style or fall out of their set; and added 
that he might drop out and grub, but he could not bring 
a woman to that. 

“ ‘ As to the “ set ” I told him that he and she must de- 
cide whether it was more valuable to keep than each 
other; and that as to grubbing it was defined variously. 
A little of what he called that would do him good for a 
year I had no doubt, and after the sweetness of working 
64 


REALIZATION. 


and saving, for the suppositious young woman, had been 
fairly tried, it might be well to ascertain whether she did 
net really value him more than some things that he could 
possibly never afford her. 

He did not say much more then, but soon after 
brought me his cash book, and showed what he had blue- 
marked as unnecessary in the last year’s record. I told 
him I could not have done it better, for he slashed out his 
clubs, several societies of which he had been a member, 
tailors’ bills, board bills, and a host of smaller items. 
This was nearly a year ago, and he does not look ill- 
dressed or starved by any means, at present; while the 
light in his eyes means, unless I am much mistaken, that 
the fair one has consented to be his. I shall expect cards 
in a year or two more. How can they do less, under the 
circumstances ?’ 

“ Uncle Billy does all kinds of good things in his own 
way, which is often decidedly original. You must not 
dare to call him a philanthropist though, for he has met 
so many of these that are one-sided, undomestic people, 
with always a plan for the domestic happiness of others, 
that he says is an invasion of their home rights. He does 
not condemn utterly, but is ‘ shy ’ of most of them, as he 
calls it. 

“ He has so many pleasant sides, that you will never 
tire of hearing him talk. He has been a great traveler, 
and, what is more, can tell in the most interesting way 
of the lands and people he has seen. Boston has been 
his home, from his youth, and it is a real treat to heai 
him i reminisce,’ when in the vein, of the theater there , es- 
pecially about the old Boston Museum Company, when 
his favorites were on the boards. William Warren, Mrs., 


65 


a week's wooing. 


Vincent, and Miss Annie Clarke. He was very fond of 
those little plays of simple plot which bring in just a few 
characters, but hold the heart very closely. 

“ ‘The Open Gate/ was the name of one of them ; some- 
thing about its being left open as a signal of hope or rec- 
onciliation. The heroine (Miss Clarke, I believe,) stood 
by it without many words; only a broken sob, which 
spoke for itself. No melodramatic effects were needed, 
and if tears came to some eyes, it was because real emo- 
tions were stirred in the hearts of the auditors, from the 
truth of the scene presented so simply. 

“ How I have run on about dear Uncle Billy, but he is 
an enthusiasm of mine, you see, and I have so few. He 
said today that he had not quite forgiven me, yet, for 
daring to take so important a step without his knowledge, 
adding, very gallantly, that he had been looking around 
for some one good enough.’' 

“ I must try very hard to win his favor, after that 
speech,” said Howard, and continued : “ He certainly 

is a contrast to your Uncle Henry. I feel like making 
every one out as good as possible today, and perhaps 
even your Uncle Henry is partly a victim of circum- 
stances, or rather heredity. I fancy he is a passionless 
man, and such are sometimes as cruel as voluptuaries are 
selfish. They do not necessarily mean to be hard, but 
sometimes are so, because they have not, and can never 
have, any basis from which to judge fairly of the softer 
passion. Regard or a sentimental friendship, is as far as 
the best of these can ever attain; while those less deli- 
cately organized, are, in fact, whether they know it or 
not, often positively cruel, in both judgment and action. 
I pity those whom I have called passionless men and 


66 


REALIZATION. 


women, just as I detest others who simulate passion for 
base ends. ' 

But, leaving all this, I must tell you of a dream I had 
lately, apropos of what you have told about ‘ the open 
gate/ The ending was hardly pleasant, and I will hasten 
to tell you why, that you may reassure me. 

“ At first > y° u were utterly unattainable, but we were 
finally married on the seventh day, so that you might gain 
the fortune. Now comes the tragedy, for upon entering 
the house you deliberately shut the door upon me just as 
I was about to follow. I felt that you were quite wel- 
come to the fortune and the house besides, but to be shut 
out from your heart, forever, was too much. It was all a 
jumble, as dreams often are, but that is as near as I can 
recollect it. ,, 

“ A jumble, I should think so; for you literally did not 
‘ take the cake/ unless you considered you had the frost- 
ing. Poor fellow, out there in the cold. I do not won- 
der you wish to be reassured ; and you can rely upon my 
leaving the gate, or door, open, if I happen to enter first.” 

“ Here we are, at last !” he exclaimed, as the Glimpse 
glided slowly into the little harbor, beside the cliff. 

“ Peter has had notice that we should probably arrive 
tonight, and that neither he nor his wife were to keep 
up for us, so we will enter, not like thieves in the night, 
but more like spirits twain in the moonlight; unless the 
thought is too eerie and ghostlike for you.” 

“ It is all so delightfully and deliciously romantic, 
Howard,” she said, as she disembarked, and received the 
little bunch of keys that he presented with mock for- 
mality. 


67 


a week's wooing. 


“ They are for your especial use, and this one you can 
try here at the landing, in that door right on the side of 
the cliff.” 

A stairway was now disclosed cut out of the solid rock, 
and upon reaching the top step, Isabel gave another ex- 
clamation of delighted surprise, at finding herself on a 
small but beautifully kept lawn, directly south of the 
house. 

As she stood close by his side, looking in rapt wonder, 
first at the beauties about them, and then beyond at the 
sparkling sea, he said : “ In this sheltered spot almost 

perpetual summer reigns, as it will forevermore, darling, 
in my heart.” 

She only answered by a gentle pressure of his arm ; 
ana he drew her now to a seat where they lingered long 
in silence. 

When, at last she raised her face to his, he saw that 
her eyes were suffused with tears. “ I love you so !” were 
the only words she could find to explain such happy, 
happy tears, ere his lips pressed hers. Later, he said, 
“ The second key you can try on this door at the foot of 
the tower,” and as they entered a small, but wonderfully 
comfortable study, he continued, “ this was mine, but 
now is our sanctum, and right above it is our chamber, 
which is reached by this little stairway, besides the regu- 
lar connection from the rest of the house. See if you can 
find a way from here into the dining-room, in addition 
to the more obvious passage by the hall.” 

She looked in vain, and then he said : 

“ Perhaps the lady within that frame will help you. 
She seems to be looking down toward a clue.” He 
showed her how the third key could be pressed into the 


68 


REALIZATION. 


side of the frame, and at once the whole painting swung 
outward, disclosing the dining-room with a table spread 
for two. “ It is a light repast as you see, Isabel, only 
fruit, ices and lemonade, as we have quite recently had 
our substantial meal on the boat.” 

“ You have not forgotten my pond lilies either, you 
treasure ! It is all like fairy-land ; only Howard, do they 
have a stick in the lemonade in fairy realms? It is real 
nectar ! How good you are, and how good I want to be 
to you and everybody else in the world — only in a dif- 
ferent way to you. What can I do to make you happier ?” 

“ I give it up,” he said in despair, “ unless you will just 
write on this slip your orders for breakfast, as mistress 
of this modest abode, so that Anne can find it in the 
morning. She will expect it, and her anxiety will be 
greatly relieved to find that I really have a wife. She has 
had me on her mind for a year, and is still, I fear, a 
little skeptical as to the report I sent forward. 

“ There is one little thing that bothers me,” she said, 
with a pretence of anxiety that did not in the least de- 
ceive him. 

“ rift within the lute? ’ What is it dear? 

“ Shall you be very much disappointed if I do not ap- 
pear in a wrapper at the breakfast table, even the kind 
that some think so ‘ fetching ’ -but which I abominate. 

« Perhaps if I said, that to have you wrapped in my 
arms or even to sit where my rapt gaze could rest on you, 
were’ enough; you would accuse me of airy per- 
siflage- so I will be as serious as you wish and 
answer that I, too, detest wrappers. And now that jour 
mind is relieved upon that point, shall we re-enter the 
study through the same panel? Upon this side the lady 

69 


a week's wooing. 


glances upward, hinting, perhaps, that it is time to re- 
pair to the room above the study and seek our well- 
earned repose, for it has been an eventful day, and you 
must be tired.” 

“ Not a bit, Howard,” she exclaimed, as she re-en- 
tered the study, and stepped toward the little stairway 
leading to the chamber. 

“ I fear that you will think some of my conceits rather 
theatrical, but young men living alone (a very unnat- 
ural state you know), get some fanciful notions, and it 
is better to work them out in this way than do worse 
mischief, possibly, in the world.” 

“ I am sure I would not have a thing changed, but why 
do you keep so close after me? Are you afraid I will 
topple back appalled when I behold the secrets of the 
chamber, or is that dream still in your thoughts, with a 
fear that I am actually going to shut you out at this very 
last door?” 

“ I am not going to take any chances,” he retorted, as 
they entered what she called the loveliest room of all. 

As they stood by the window, overlooking the lawn 
and the cove where the Glimpse was gently nodding, as 
if in first slumber, and still farther to the ocean and the 
great world beyond ; she whispered : “ I have found it 

hard work to pray for Uncle Henry, heretofore, but I 
can even do that tonight.” 

She smiled for a moment, at this thought having en- 
tered her mind, and then coming to his arms, said : “ Tell 
me again of your happiness, darling, and let my heart re- 
spond. My lips can only answer, now, in one way.” 

“ There is so much to tell, Isabel, that life will not 
be long enough. 


70 


REALIZATION, 


“ The ever-recurring words that have come to me 
today, as I have listened to the music of your voice, and 
gazed into your loving, happy eyes, have been ‘ blessing, 
comfort and joy/ which I have repeated with devout 
thankfulness over and over again. When I tell you at 
some later day, the story of my life since I left college, 
in my second year, a lad of eighteen, with something of 
the hardships that I battled through in distant parts of 
the world; you will understand how what some would 
call an early success, was of little avail until I had you 
to share it. There were reasons why I sorely needed the 
blessing of your love to heal and comfort.” 

She seemed to understand much of what his sufferings 
might have been, and whispered gently: “A blessing, 
comfort, and joy, I will be to you always, dearest, as you 
are to me at this moment, and ever will be.” 



7i 









A 



































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































- 









DOLPH 

AND 

DOLLY. 


A 

BROTHERLY 

ROMANCE. 







TO 

THE GREAT BROTHERHOOD 

OF LOVERS. 




1 







Dolph and Dolly 


CHAPTER I. 

“ Let Brotherly Love Continue.” 

“ How foolish people are about such things !” ex- 
claimed Dolly. 

Dolph thought she had never looked prettier than at 
that moment, notwithstanding her refusal to talk seri- 
ously of what was to him of the greatest importance. 
She might look still more distractingly charming in 
sweet surrender, sometime, to his heart’s demand, if he 
dared to dream of such final outcome ; but he was forced 
to admit that there seemed little to encourage such beatific 
visions, at the present time. 

Adolphus Rogers of New York City, and Miss Doro- 
thea Dalrymple of Inglefield, New Jersey, would be the 
formally correct introduction to the reader, but they were 
universally “ Dolph ” and “ Dolly ” to their friends, so 
that the same habit may as well be fallen into here. 
Dolly’s last name had been contracted into “ Dimple ” in 
early childhood by playmates who were reading the “Dot- 
tie Dimple ” books ; but that diminutive had been frowned 
upon by her long since, and she hoped was forgotten. 

If Dolph had consented to forget, or to forego the use 
of the word, he knew where there was a trace of that 
dimple still remaining, which appeared in a furtive, elu- 
sive sort of way, on occasions that he hoped came most 


77 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


frequently in his presence. There was not a great deal 
that he could do about this case of his rejection, or “ sub- 
stitution,” as he preferred to call it — not of another 
(which, heaven forbid!), but of a brotherly friendship 
for the closer relation that he so fondly desired. Dolly 
had explained everything very clearly, and in a way that 
was eminently satisfactory to herself, as she believed; 
although she had been less successful with Dolph. 

“ I could never think of giving you up as a brother, of 
course ; and that was one thing that almost vexed me as 
soon as you commenced to speak in that other, foolish 
way. You have always been like a brother to me since 
we were wee tots together, and always so good in taking 
care of me; although there was an obstinate side on oc- 
casions, such as you have shown again today.” 

After reflecting a moment she said, still more de- 
cidedly: “No, I cannot give up that. You will con- 
tinue to be a brother to me, Dolph, will you not?” she 
asked, a little startled at the thought of any break in 
their long friendship ; while a wistful, pensive look came 
into her eyes at some fond retrospect of childhood days 
together. 

There was a trace of pleading and pathos in her tone, 
at the mere idea of losing this brother. An insupportable 
thought as she suddenly found; one that had almost 
frightened her, and that she ought to be vexed with 
Dolph for causing, by what she had called his “ foolish- 
ness.” 

He could not resist her plea, for the softness in that 
look, went straight to his heart (soft, too, where she was 
concerned), and he tried to smile away the love that had 
surged up to his eyes; so that he might not further vex 

78 


BROTHERLY LOVE. 


the one whom he must try and comfort, X only as a 
brother. 

“ I do not think * foolishness ’ is quite the word, Dolly, 
but you shall not be vexed by it, whatever it is, and I 
will be, for the present, at least, your — brother.” The 
last word came so hard that she laughed outright, and 
he could not resist joining, although the obstinate part of 
him that Dolly had alluded to murmured within : “ He 
laughs best, who laughs last.” He proceeded, presentlv. 
“ You believe, evidently in ‘ shooting folly as it flies/ and 
my poor little flight which has proved but an aimless 
flutter, has ended with my heart pierced by your shaft. 
Your aim was a good one, but beware, for a day may 
come when I shall try another flight that will place me 
securely very close to your heart. I must give this warn- 
ing, Dolly, for you ought to know that love never dies, 
even when it makes way for a brother, as mine has prom- 
ised to do, but not forever. If your heart should incline 
to mine at last, the joy will be made known to me some- 
how, whether I am by your side or absent. 

“ Now, as we ascend to the cool and clarified heights of 
general discussion, to which I am to be confined, for the 
present, let me give my ideas briefly as to terms used for 
relationship ; for although I am to be but a brother, there 
need be no embarrassment in discussing love and matri- 
mony or the resultant relationships, as abstract principles. 

“ If we were married (I speak impersonally, in an illus- 
trative way, and any one of your friends would do as well 
for this purpose), I should not call your sister by that 
name, nor should I say ‘ mother/ in speaking of yours. 

“ Father, mother, sister, and brother, are words that 
signify something closer and dearer, than other persons 
can possibly be who are not really that. 


79 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


“ My mother-in-law is not my mother, nor my brother- 
in-law my brother; I mean would not be if I had them. 
When you asked me to be your brother, I thought for a 
moment of the little playfellow, mine as well as yours, 
the real brother that you lost so early and mourned so 
deeply, child as you were ; and it seemed, at first, almost 
disloyal to him, to take his name. Presently, it came 
more clearly before me how you looked at the matter, 
how, in fact, I might become a link with the one you had 
lost, and thus a comfort to you. Perhaps a selfish thought 
intervened, and I dared to hope that although I was only 
to be a brother, none other could be so much as that to 
you.” 

“ Little Eddie was very dear to me,” said Dolly, with 
quivering lips and suffused eyes, and presently she added, 
“ You were right in all you thought, but how do you 
know these things?” 

He turned partly from her, as she remembered, after- 
ward, before he answered in a low tone, which vibrated 
strangely in her consciousness. “ That is what I must 
not tell you, now.” A little time after this, in pursuance 
of his resolve to keep the conversation upon a strictly 
platonic basis, he said : “ Speaking of family relation- 

ships, how different in many ways you and your sister 
are. Mrs. Hurlburt is very charming, but you are unlike 
in that very quality which you both possess in so great 
a degree.” 

“ Thank you!” laughed Dolly, “ on both Celia’s behalf 
and my own. Yes, we are very different in a great many 
respects. Celia is tall, and large in other ways, with a 
really imposing presence ; while I am of no more than 
medium height and far from imposing, unless now in 


80 


BROTHERLY LOVE. 


this very attempt at comparisons, which after all you are 
responsible for. Shall I proceed, or do you repent?” 

“ Go on, by all means,” he urged, “ for I have never 
before seen you attempt the least bit of self-analysis, and 
I may learn something of value. I am looking for points, 
if you must know, for they may be useful, later. There 
w^j nothing in our agreement that barred the right to 
use my eyes and ears. You referred only to my lips. Was 
not that it?” 

Dolly looked at him with just a little doubt expressed 
in the glanpe as to whether this was not trenching upon 
forbidden ground. It was not till he left that she saw a 
still worse construction to his speech, for lips do other 
things than talk, she reflected. 

“ If you take the responsibility, then, I will finish the 
comparison,” she said, with a gravity befitting the sub- 
ject. 

“ Celia is fair (florid she calls it), with eyes of deepest 
blue, and hair of flaxen hue, though not really tow- 
headed. I am darker in complexion, with a suspicion of 
auburn in my hair, while my eyes do not seem to classify 
well. Are they hazel?” 

“ I have often despaired in trying to classify both hair 
and eyes,” sighed Dolph in fond retrospect. “ I think 
they, like other things pertaining to you, are in a class by 
themselves — but auburn and hazel we will call them for 
want of a better means of defining the indescribable.” 

“ Turning now from my physical ( ‘charms,’ he sug- 
gested) which you seem to have studied in some detail,” 
she remarked with a blush and attempt at a frown, “ I 
come at once to our mental differences. Celia is still, I 
verily believe, afraid of a mouse and of a pitch-dark 

81 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


room ; while I care nothing for either. But that signifies 
very little, for she is capable of rising to any real emer- 
gency, as witness the time when she went to work so 
coolly over Charlie’s severed artery. She did not faint 
until the time had arrived when she could help no fur- 
ther. Celia is impulsive and very sentimental, while I 
am certainly neither. She is regular in church going and 
observances, while I am what I fear might be called lax, 
though I hope not irreligious in any vital way. Strange 
to say Celia is often careless and forgetful in many other 
things, at meals for instance, and there is such a sweet 
disorder, not in her dress, but her own room. 

“ It is my despair when I try to get a little order out of 
the chaos, for I am as orderly as a prim old maid, which 
she has warned me is my destiny. But I may as well 
stop right here, for this is rather profitless comparing. 

“ We are different, and it is better so, than for sisters 
to be exact counterparts. I am humbly conscious that she 
has attributes that I might well emulate; and she would 
grant that I had more merits than my conceit ought to 
allow to. She, like others, has some views that are erro- 
neous, and so has mother, even ; for I have had to speak 
very seriously to them both, lately, about a matter, that 
we see quite differently. 

“ It is too bad !” she added, with a laugh, “ for, as I 
sadly informed mother in particular, I had hitherto looked 
upon her as wisdom personified.” 

Dolly blushed as she realized that her sisterly prattle 
had drifted her pretty nearly on to ground that she had 
barred to Dolph. He knew well enough what the folly 
of her elders had been, which she in her wisdom had set 
aside; for was not he the sufferer? 


82 


BROTHERLY LOVE. 


I do not desire, Dolly, to reopen now the door which 
you wish closed for the present. But considering for a 
moment that it is not closed — until I have left you 
today (for some weeks as you know), I would like to say 
a word if I have your permission.” 

Dolly looked disturbed, partly at the subject coming up 
again, and partly perhaps at the thought of his going, 
but assented with a little air of resignation. If he 
thought it necessary — of course. 

“ Suppose that your mother and sister had not desired 
it so much, and suppose one other thing, that we had not 
been so constantly together since we were small children 
would my chance have been a better one for winning 
you ? In other words is the touch of romance wanting — 
and if instead of the youth at home with homely ways (so 
well known as to tire you sometimes), there should have 
come suddenly on your horizon, this same one, but capar- 
isoned like a knight ” — he laughed or tried to — “ you 
know what I mean, though I express it lamely enough. 
But Dolly, think well,” he said, gravely now, “ before 
you close the door, perhaps, forever — for life itself is 
uncertain. Give me what chance you can, honestly. 
More I do not ask than one hope to cling to still.” 

She looked at him a moment before she answered, and 
saw now how pale he was, and the restraint that he tried to 
maintain in his features, and she realized a little better 
what it all meant. To him this was not “ foolishness ” 
she thought, whatever it might be to her. 

“ No,” she said, slowly, “ it is not those things, Dolph. 
Mother and Celia I know desire my best happiness, and 
have thought I should inquire of my heart well, before I 
decided it was not with you. It is !” she exclaimed so 


83 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. > 


suddenly that the color came to his cheeks and the light 
to his eyes, at the possibility of such bliss being his — 
“ only not in that way. There is no one I like so well, 
but that is not what it ought to be, or what you would 
take, or I give. As to your comparison and caparison,” 
she continued, with a smile, “ there is no magic in it for 
me. I much prefer the homely ways of the home youth ! 
He would be right if any one could be — but the trouble 
is L. me, I think. I tried, Dolph, to do what you desired, 
for I wished to be perfectly fair, and more, to love you, 
if I could.” Her eyes had dropped their gaze, and her 
cheeks were flushed, for the confession of so much was 
a hard one for her maidenhood, although she now felt it 
his due. “ I only found that I liked you a great deal, and 
that is different is it not ?” she said, almost appealingly — 
for she had always been accustomed to taking his judg- 
ment as valuable, and it was hard to get out of the habit 
of going to him. 

“ Yes, that it different,” he said, gently; and if a little 
sadness crept into his tone, he had not meant she should 
feel it. “ I thank you for trying so kindly, so honestly. 
It will reach you without the trying some day; this love 
of mine, as I believe in my soul — but if not that, the love 
of a worthier one. I am your brother, now, and if it 
brings you most content will always remain so.” 

He had been so strangely moved as he spoke (and he 
was pale — and thin, too), that Dolly wanted to comfort 
him, if there was only some other way than this which 
she could not walk in. How often she had laughed at the 
story of other lovers’ sighing; and more than once re- 
peated the lines: 


84 


/ 


teROTttERLY LoV£. 


“ Why so pale and wan, fond lover? 

Prithee, why so pale ? ’ ’ 

She could not laugh now, for it was too serious a mat- 
ter for hint at least. “ How do you spend your vacation 
this year?” she asked, and a few minutes before would 
have added a protest at his leaving just when so many 
pleasant excursions could be made with their friends. 
She knew, now, that before he took up his brotherly role 
with success, it was better that he should leave her for a 
time, little as she relished the idea. 

“ Changing the lines a little, as you are the questioner, 
my answer is — ‘ I am going a-fishing, my pretty maid ’ — 
in Narragansett Bay. A brother may call his sister that, 
certainly.” 

“ Certainly !” she echoed, so heartily, that they both 
laughed — “ but brothers rarely do it,” she added. 

“ I shall use a brother’s privilege still further, and 
write you an occasional letter, whether you desire the in- 
fliction or not. That is one trouble with brothers, they 
will presume with their sisters; and you can hardly yet 
imagine where your rashly given confidence to this new 
brother may lead you.” 

“ I w iH trust him for all that,” she said with a smile, 
as she gave him her hand in parting. 

Dolly sat for a long time in the arbor at the end of the 
old fashioned garden, thinking of all that Dolph had said, 
and how he looked back, just once, as if to take in the 
picture of her there, to treasure forever in his heart. 

She remembered when they first came there to play 
such very little folks then — and how many happy days 
had been spent there since. It was a dear spot to both 


85 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


of them, this playground of their youth, and safe retreat 
in older years ; quite apart from other buildings, snugly 
placed behind just enough shrubbery to ensure privacy, 
but dry as well as sheltered, for the sunlight came to it 
sufficiently for that. There had been three playmates at 
the first, for Eddie was with them then. Dolph was the 
oldest, and while as full of fun and adventure as the 
others, felt the responsibility of his years ; and she smiled 
as she remembered the grave little ways in which he had 
shown it. What an undercurrent there had always been 
of shield and shelter for her in his steadiness and control 
when difficulties presented themselves, and once or twice 
real dangers. It was strange how she had always taken 
things so much for granted, and relied and depended on 
him. It had never been realized so clearly and fully be- 
fore by Dolly ; but today as he left her, for a longer ab- 
sence than ever before, it came over her with an irresist- 
ible force — almost a pang of regret. But regret for 
what ? That she had not told him how much his care for 
her was felt, or was the feeling a deeper one still ? Could 
she possibly have answered his question differently? 
Was there anything in what Dolph said about his being 
too unromantic a figure? If this always known, ever 
depended upon, taken for granted, Dolph, had come now 
for the first time upon her horizon, with all his manly 
and winning attributes, would such a presence have won 
her — or at least was it a possibility ? She had told him, 
honestly, “ No,” but perhaps he would have carried away 
more hope if her answer had been “ Yes for there might 
then have seemed more chance for change — for the 
breaking forth of light. If light did come to her, how it 
would brighten his life ! She had not felt the need, for 


86 


BROTHERLY LOVE. 


all had seemed well enough as it was to her, but he seemed 
to need something more, so much. 

What Dolph had said about “ one more worthy,” in 
that reluctant way, need not cause him a moment’s de- 
jection ; for she could see that the bitterness of this pos- 
sibility must have been what paled his cheek, even while 
he strove to disbelieve it. 

“ None more worthy than you !” she almost said aloud ; 
even if it were possible that there could be another with 
the power to take her heart captive — nor would she ad- 
mit that there could be such a one. If any it would be 
Dolph, of course. It was strange how she clung 
to him as a brother. Perhaps she had presumed 
and counted on this, too much, and it was a selfish appro- 
priation. He ought to see more of other girls, and per- 
haps he would find one much better suited to be his wife, 
one who would make his life a far happier one than she 
could hope to. But Dolly stuck hard at that word as 
having aught to do with him. 

Dolph’s wife, indeed — how absurd! For who was 
good enough among them all, for him? Perhaps in his 
travels, now, to be sure he might meet some one that — 
but she did not pursue this path further, except to con- 
clude that she was a very selfish girl concerning his wel- 
fare. In reviewing their recent conversation she won- 
dered why she had felt so queerly when in that imper- 
sonal conversation he had said that any one of her friends 
would do equally well in an “ illustrative ” way. Could 
he not have an illustrative wife, even ? She certainly was 
more selfish than she had ever realized before — the 
proofs of it were multiplying. 

87 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


She had been so intent upon proving to her own satis- 
faction that there was a league of foolishness against her, 
in Dolph and Celia and her mother; although he ha-1 
never sought any such alliance to help his cause (they 
were volunteers on his behalf) — that some things had 
been overlooked. When she came to think of it, perhaps 
it did savor of calm assurance — this presumption that 
she was so very wise where her friends had been foolish. 

It was not quite the word as Dolph had said — not 
for his devotion at any rate. And as to her mother and 
sister, if she had been a little vexed once at their enter- 
ing the lists for him, it was, as she well knew, only in 
their anxiety to have her sure she read her heart aright, 
that they urged her to give him a fair hearing. It had 
seemed at one time as if everything was swaying, press- 
ing, his way, and yet there had been no real pressure, and 
her resistance she might have known had but to signify 
itself by a word to become at once operative, as had just 
been shown. 

If all had been against him — the usual way in well- 
regulated novels — how she would have clung to him — 
if she had loved him. Through good report, or evil, 
poverty, sickness, sorrow, anything that might betide, 
through life and to eternity. 

She was surprised to find herself so sentimental and 
impassioned over a possibility — and such a remote one. 
Was, then, opposition the needed spur to help Dolph\s 
cause ? She had practically met that already in her denial 
to him. She had really not given him a straw to hold to 
except the slender support that might be found in her 
theory that it was not in her to love any man. That was 


88 


brotherly love. 


poor comfort if he believed it, for it simply placed him 
with the rest of mankind, as unable to move a cold maid. 
He had once said that he did not like being herded with 
others ; and had avowed his belief that she was yet to be 
moved, even if not by him. His “ obstinate streak,” as 
she had called it, made him still hope that he might be 
the happy man, in spite of her having closed the door. 
She liked firmness. She had not meant to be hard, but 
it had really seemed better to put all such things one side, 
and come back to the old friendly basis. It was summary 
treatment, perhaps, for a man that had loved her always ; 
but he knew that she had tried to take the most honest 
course. 

If she had realized before, as she was beginning to 
now, what the love of a life time meant to him, the door 
might possibly have been kept open a little longer so that 
his case might have been stated in different ways, until 
he, as well as she, had been convinced of its hopelessness. 

She concluded, finally, that it was not much use to go 
over the matter again, and so was forced to leave it with- 
out any more light than when she commenced; except 
that what had at first been called foolishness, and then 
vexation, had approached now to the stage of perplexity ; 
which might or might not be progress in Dolly’s career. 

She tried to look at the matter quite impersonally and 
philosophically, and if there was a chance of change de- 
termined that Dolph should have that chance ; which was 
kind of her — so far — and would have been interesting to 
him could he have known it just then. 


89 


CHAPTER II. 

“ A Brother of the Angle.” 

Newport, R. I. (Midsummer). 

Dear Dolly : 

I take a brother’s privilege, again, in addressing this, 
but if it is a presumption I will in future be guided by any 
suggestion that occurs to you — “ dear sister,” “ dear Miss 
Dalrymple,” or other form deemed appropriate. The 
date used is a vague one I know, but I have already near- 
ly lost the run of time. You will wonder at my mailing 
this from a fashionable watering-place, when I started, as 
you know, in quest of quiet, upon a solitary cruise; so I 
will at once explain why I am here. My embarking point 
was at the head of Narragansett Bay, near where the im- 
mortal Roger Williams found a safe haven after many 
bufferings, and where a beautiful park bears his name. 
Here I was fortunate in finding just the craft desired 
for a week’s cruising. She is called the “ Foam ” (but I 
rechristened her at once!), and is a twenty-one foot cat- 
boat, decked well aft ; so that there is ample cabin accom- 
modation, with room for what supplies I require for 
frugal sustenance. I speak modestly, but you should see 
the results (or some of them) of my cooking. 

“ My good ship sails tonight !” I quoted, on the very 
evening that I arranged terms with the owner ; and hurry- 
ing aboard a few provisions ( mostly solid), sail was 
hoisted, and I cast off from the wharf at once. It was a 
far tide down, and the wind had enough west in it to lay 


90 


BROTHER OF THE ANGLE. 


my course southward, in the moonlight. What a lovely, 
peaceful night it was ! and how I wished — many things 
that it might not interest you to hear. It was a time for 
pleasing retrospect if not to indulge vain longings. We 
must all have many of these last, that reason tells us are 
but sweet visionary ones ; and it is perplexing, sometimes, 
to define nicely what longings must be sternly stifled, and 
what may be allowed to dwell for momentary comfort. 
[ “ How true that is !” thought Dolly ; for she was still 
groping with her perplexities.] My little bark proved an 
excellent sailer, and I soon began to overhaul other boats 
that had started out earlier, with merry parties aboard; 
the occupants evidently enjoying not alone a moonlight 
sail, but in some cases very close converse with each other. 

As I passed the last one of these, near Rocky Point, I 
could not avoid hearing the comment of a very comfort- 
ably disposed young lady to the disposer who sat close 
beside her — very close. “ How lonesome he seems, glid- 
ing by like a wraith, perhaps a disconsolate one. This is 
better, isn’t it, Dick?” and, it may have been my fancy, 
but I thought she pressed a little closer to Richard. 

His answer was sententious : “ It is, Mabel.” On 

such quiet nights sound travels farther than is generally 
realized, for of course Mabel did not intend for me to 
hear what she fondly murmured. She certainly looked 
very pretty, as well as perfectly happy, in the momentary 
glance that I gave as the “ Foam ” swept by the “ Sprite.” 
[ “ If she did mean Dolph to hear her, it was just horrid 
— and selfish into the bargain !” commented Dolly, vigor- 
ously.] There were fireworks displayed from Rocky 
Point, and answered by a passing excursion steamer, so 
that it was quite a gala night. 


9t 


bOLPlI AfrD DOLLY. 


After drawing by Warwick Light, and heading well up 
into Coweset Bay, there came a “ sea change,” or, rather, 
the moon withdrew under a black cloud (abashed, I sup- 
pose, at some of the displays of fondness she had wit- 
nessed), leaving “ the world to darkness and to me.” 

It was late, now, and I was proceeding to anchor, when 
the first and only accident of my cruise occurred. Pleas- 
ant as it is to sail by one’s self under some conditions — 
when reflective, dreamy or distrait — it behooves the navi- 
gator to keep his wits sharply at command, more especial- 
ly because he is alone ; with no one by to cure the results 
of a moment’s carelessness. Perhaps I was thinking too 
intently of early and late events in my own career, crossed 
once or twice with the pretty picture of Dick’s and Mabel’s 
happiness ; but, at any rate, as I threw overboard the an- 
chor, a coil of the rope caught around my leg, and as I 
followed the anchor down into the cold, black depths, the 
reminder was sharp and unpleasant of my stupidity in 
standing so that the accident was possible. 

I cleared myself, fortunately, and when I came to the 
surface found a new problem before me, for the tide was 
running so swiftly that it looked uncertain whether I 
should reach the boat. Evidently I was not born to be 
drowned, on this trip, at least, for I swam, puffed and 
strove successfully; reaching the boat, finally, well ex- 
hausted, but a wiser and I hope a properly thankful man, 
for this escape from a watery grave so early in my outing. 

I vowed to keep my weather-eye open, hereafter, and 
have done so. [Dolly felt almost as if she had followed 
Dolph into the dark, cold waters, as, startled and shocked, 
she read the first lines ; and then she gave a great sigh of 
relief an^ thankfulness at his escape. Her heart beat 

\ 


9 2 


BROTHER OF THE ANGLE. 


fast enough, now, as the blood coursed rapidly and warm- 
ly once more; but at first it had seemed as if something 
clutched tightly there. She felt almost as if she could 
execrate Mabel as a remote cause of the disaster, until a 
question presented itself which flushed her cheek, and 
brought a look into her eyes to which they were quite un- 
accustomed. Had she not herself a responsibility for this 
happening that was so nearly a tragedy? It was a dis- 
quieting thought, but she reflected that she had tried to 
read honestly her own heart ; and it was a comfort that 
he knew that, at least.] I took one companion with me 
on the voyage, after all, though not hitherto mentioned, 
and capital company he has proved. This was none less 
than old Izaak Walton, bound in a book, but a living, 
tranquilizing presence, nevertheless. The words that I 
first opened to were perhaps not the most cheering, it is 
true, if considered in the light of my recent involuntary 
bath. They ran as follows : 

“ There meditate my time away ; 

And angle on ; and beg to have 
A quiet passage to a welcome grave.” 

The meditating could now be done comfortably, how- 
ever, while snugly anchored ; and I enjoyed a half-hour 
of old Izaak’s rational philosophy and quaintly wise say- 
ings; and then fell into his habit once more. It would 
make a long story if I tried to tell you all that I thought 
about in that hour, and I fear might take me “ out of 
bounds,” as we used to call it in our games, so I will not 
run the risk of transcending your rules, or of wearying 
you. 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


[ “ I wish he had just gone into it a little bit — enough 
to give me an idea — but I can imagine something of it;” 
Dolly commented, sagely.] 

The next morning I remembered that this was prima- 
rily a fishing expedition, for my appetite had come with a 
rush, to make up for the few weeks’ previous w r ant of it, 
I suppose. 

[ “ I am sorry — I mean glad, for that. How wicked 
of me to say * sorry ’ at first ! Of course I want him to 
recover his appetite, and weight and color, at once”] 

I caught a fine lot of tautog, and had them frying so 
quickly that it was almost equal to the story that my sister 
Peggy and her husband told on their return from the 
Yellowstone Park. They pulled the fish out of the lake 
and landed them into a boiling spring to cook; while I 
landed mine into the frying-pan. After a very hearty 
fish breakfast (including some things edible besides ), I 
made sail again, and crossing Narragansett Bay, went into 
Bristol harbor, taking my dinner at a hotel in that beau- 
tifully situated town ; famous of late years for building 
the speediest yachts afloat, and with traditions still linger- 
ing of former commercial importance. 

After a stroll through Hope and High and one or two 
other streets shaded by fine old trees, and bordered by 
many old-time mansions, I sailed around Bristol Neck, 
through Bristol Ferry, and so into Mount Hope Bay, an- 
choring long enough to make the ascent of Mount Hope. 

Height, like age, and many other things, is relative; 
for two or three hundred feet may yield as wonderful a 
prospect under certain conditions as several times that 
in other cases. 


94 


BROTHER OF THE ANGLE. 


Certainly the view from the summit of Mount Hope 
is well worth the climb, and I would not have missed see- 
ing the wonderfully fine panorama spread out before me 
for many times the toil necessary to reach it ; although the 
brief climb was in this case upon a very hot day. A swim 
afterward was all the more refreshing ; much better than 
the enforced one of the night previous. Night found the 
“ Foam ” anchored between the bridges in the passage 
leading to Seaconnet River. 

I took the first fair tide out the next day, from this 
meeting-place of the waters ; for tides literally meet here, 
and the novelty is experienced of the ebb or flow (as the 
case may be) of the same tide in opposite directions. 
Most of the way down to Seaconnet Point the wind was 
dead ahead, thus bringing the beautiful shores constant- 
ly before me as I tacked from one to the other. 

That same afternoon, while sailing outside the Point, 
in the broad Atlantic, I found myself among a fine lot of 
bluefish, and caught some of the very finest of course. 
Fishermen always do , you know ! It was rare sport. 

[ “ He seems to be in very good spirits,” pouted Dolly, 
horrified the next minute at such a childish and unreason- 
ing exhibition. She was sure she had never been so very 
unreasonable before. Of course she desired him to have 
a good time in this vacation that had been so long de- 
layed.] 

After I had knocked about for two or three days and 
got well browned in the sun, and when my appetite had 
become reduced to a normal state, I began to feel lone- 
some again, especially in the evenings. 

[ “ I thought it would come back !” exclaimed Dolly, 
complacently.] 


95 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


So I ran along the coast to Newport, and soon was lux- 
uriating in a shave, the last newspapers, and association 
with my kind generally. 

Who should I see as I walked along Thames street but 
“ Mabel ” and “ Dick ” ! I knew her at once, and she 
recognized me, for when her friend, Lucy Sargent (whom 
we met recently you know), introduced us, Mabel, who it 
seems is Dick’s wife, alluded to the coincidence. 

“ We have called you ‘ the lone fisherman ’ ever since, 
Mr. Rogers ; and wondered who you were, gliding so 
swiftly away in the moonlight and disappearing as mys- 
teriously as you came.” 

“ I remember you made some allusion to my lonesome 
state as I passed!” I replied, rather mischievously, per- 
haps she thought, for she blushed very prettily as she an- 
swered : “ That was intended for Dick alone, but you 

did look lonesome ; and I was sorry for you, whether you 
were sorry for yourself or not!” 

“ I understand, Mrs. Sargent,” I responded, and we 
both laughed, and have been good friends ever since. 

Lucy Sargent is her husband’s sister, and was very 
cordial in her greeting. 

“We have only met once before, I know, Mr. Rogers, 
but now that I have introduced you to my friends, I am 
going to ask you to take us all sailing. I could not go on 
their sail — nor yours, then !” she added, laughingly. “ Do 
I presume, on so short an acquaintance ?” 

“ I shall esteem it a delightful privilege,” I answered, 
and on that very day took them around Conanicut Island, 
passing up the bay first, and returning via West Passage 
and Beaver Tail. Miss Sargent is very jolly, and was 
the life of the party. [ “ It seems to me she was rather 
presuming, notwithstanding,” soliloquized Dolly.] 


BROTHER OF THE ANGLE. 


In the evening they insisted on my joining them at the 
Casino, to hear the orchestra, while we had a little supper, 
as they called it, but which proved to be quite an elabor- 
ate spread. As we sat in the balcony, Miss Sargent 
asked, in a tone of arch challenge, “ Is not this better 
than being a lone fisherman? Here you have Mullaly’s 
delightful music to minister to your aesthetic nature; an 
especially good cigar, if I am an^ judge, to soothe you 

physically, and ” “ The best of company to talk to !” 

I hastened to add, as she hesitated a moment. She 
laughed at my way of finishing out her sentence, and 
looked radiantly happy, as she replied : “I am so very 
comfortable, lulled by the music and the fragrance of the 
weed, perhaps — that I shall not argue the point tonight, 
but let you have your own way.” 

We chatted on, then, much as before, intermittently, 
irrelevantly sometimes, “ Without feeling our responsi- 
bilities too heavily in any way,” as Miss Sargent mur- 
mured once. [“Indeed! I like that! However, it is 
their business, not mine.” But Dolly’s cheeks were very 
hot with indignation, or something near to it, for all that.] 
The next afternoon we took the Ocean Drive, and were 
left at Bailey’s Beach, on our return, so as to have the 
sun behind us for the delightful Cliff Walk which we all 
enjoyed “ immensely,” as Miss Sargent said. 

As I parted with these new friends I thought that my 
lines had certainly fallen, of late, in very pleasant places ; 
quite unforeseen, when I planned only for my fish line. 
My next from a monastery in the clouds. 

Your loving brother, 

Dolph. 


97 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


“ Very pleasant, it would seem/' quoth Dolly, dryly — 
but then she took herself to task severely for grudging to 
Dolph the very change and relaxation needed. Her 
horizon was clearing, somewhat, for she realized that 
instead of putting things which seemed uncomfortable 
resolutely away she was willing, even glad, to think them 
out ; and received often her reward in finding them almost 
comfortable, instead of as she had thought. Retrospect 
of what she had recently called Dolph’s “ foolishness ” 
was not now deemed utterly profitless; what had been 
vexatious vexed less, even if they had not become bless- 
ings, hitherto disguised; and perplexities were clearing, 
if not quite cleared. 

Dolph’s ending to his letter was rather a puzzle, but did 
not count as a perplexity with any power to trouble her, 
for she knew that wherever his “ monastery ” was it must 
have a foundation on land, and it was a relief to feel that 
there was to be no more lonely cruising. She had been, 
as seen, greatly shocked at the accident which put him in 
such peril, and while she began to realize that it had 
taught her some things, she did not wish for more knowl- 
edge (however sweet it might possibly be), bought at 
such a fearful risk. His meeting with friends had at 
least had the good effect of keeping him from further 
lonely cruising, and in the future she was sure he would 
not start forth alone, if her influence had power to govern 
his movements. 

She believed that influence was still a strong one, in 
spite of Miss Lucy Sargent’s recent appropriation, 
which was so assured that it left little room for escape for 
the time being — “ Escape for the victim” — as she put it. 

98 


BROTHER OF THE ANGLE. 


Dolly walked slowly and reflectively at last from the 
arbor where she had been sitting, while read- 
ing Dolph’s long letter ; and on entering the 
parlor found Celia there with her mother. Her sister 
rose almost immediately to go, and, kissing Dolly im- 
pulsively, said : “ I cannot stay a minute longer, dear, for 

Charlie is expecting me for a drive. His appointments 
are the only ones I never fail to keep, as you have often 
told your unreliable sister!” 

“ Stop !” commanded Dolly, planting herself, small by 
contrast, before her sister’s “ majestic presence,” as she 
sometimes called it : “I never called you ‘ unreliable ’ in 
my life. Withdraw the word or you shall be held a pris- 
oner here until Charlie comes in a frenzy to find out what 
has befallen you.” 

“ Perhaps the word was an ill-advised one, in its most 
offensive sense,” answered Celia, with a show of peni- 
tence that disarmed her sister for a moment, and then she 
found herself caught up in the air, to be quickly deposit- 
ed, next, most ingloriously upon the sofa. It was too 
late to protest, for Celia had darted through the door im- 
mediately upon being relieved of her burden. 

Mrs. Dalrymple laughed heartily at Dolly’s discomfit- 
ure, and said, presently : “ It is very strange, singularly 

so, that I have always, even from the time you were small 
children, considered that I must shelter and shield Celia, 
my eldest, largest, strongest daughter, more carefully 
than you, Dolly; although I hope it has not 
been too apparent, dear !” she added, with a smile 
which showed her perfect confidence that the younger 
daughter would know there could be no partiality in 
any way. 


IL.ofC. 


99 


DOLPH AND DOLLY* 


“ I think it must have been because I always had to 
pick up things after Celia, while you were orderly from a 
small child,” continued her mother, smiling again at her 
suddenly formed and apparently inadequate conclusion — 
whereby great things were sought to be explained by 
small. 

“ It is a penalty that my orderly soul has long recog- 
nized must be paid over and over again. Such judgments 
from a mother , too!” exclaimed Dolly, tragically, with a 
sigh ; and then she added, quickly, “ You are the dearest 
mother that ever was, and you could not make any real 
difference between us if you tried. You would not even 
know how to try ! I have always felt the same way about 
Celia. That idea of taking care of her as if she was a 
great baby, as I tell her sometimes, is by no means original 
with you, mother. It was really a relief when Charlie 
stepped in and asserted his rights of possession, although 
I was jealous of him at first, as a wicked usurper of our 
privileges.” 

Her mother continued presently, in an anxious tone: 
" I don’t think Celia is quite so well and strong lately as 
she used to be; not so vigorous as she seems, if we judge 
by her sudden attack on you, just now. She is very fond 
of you, as you are well aware, and her admiration of 
your abilities is unbounded. We were just talking of 
you, Dolly, and of Dolph, when you came in. She 
seemed rather disturbed that she and I had expressed 
even so much as we have, lately, about that affair. She 
ended by saying: ‘We have talked too much to the 
child, mother, I am afraid. If Dolph’s cause is the good 
one we believe, and if what he so desires is ever to be, 
it will come ; and we must rest content with what we have 


ioo 


BROTHER OF THE ANGLE. 


already said, even if, as seems likely now, we see his 
cause fail. You have always been so happy with father, 
and I with dear Charlie, that we may have pressed too 
hard what seemed to us like an assurance of happiness 
for Dolly’s future with one whom we had learned to like 
and respect most thoroughly in long years of acquaint- 
ance. But Dolly ought to understand that she shall not 
hear anything more from us that will trouble or vex her. 
After father and Charlie there is no man that I think so 
m.ich of as Dolph, but it is for Dolly to decide, not us,’ 
she said with a smile, although I am sure a tear sparkled 
in her eye. She once told me that she did not know why 
it was she had become such a champion of Dolph’s, unless 
because she understood him better than some, and saw 
behind his reserve. I assured Celia that you had not 
misunderstood either of us ; and for myself, dear, if only 
my own feelings were consulted I would hold you fast, 
away from Dolph, or the more fortunate one who may 
yet claim you; and thus spare the pang of regret that 
must come in losing you from our household.” 

“ I understand it all, mother,” said Dolly, “ and perhaps 
a little better, lately. Teh Celia that if I ever do change 
from my unsentimental and unresponsive state, I know it 
will be something terrific. It will fairly frighten you 
both.” Dolly finished her speech by throwing her arms 
about her mother’s neck and imprinting a vigorous kiss 
upon her lips (for she never did things by halves, when 
her convictions were clear) and ran off to her room, leav- 
ing her mother rather breathless, but easier in her mind 
than she had been for some days. 

There was nothing in Dolph’s letter for Dolly to reply 
to, as she reflected. He had asked, or rather asserted, 


IOI 


\ 

DOLPH AND DOLLY. 

that he would write — as a brother; but had not sought 
for any sisterly response. She would not presume, there- 
fore, but why had he not requested at least one from her ? 
He had not even given an address ! And yet it would be 
pleasant to him to get a letter from her she was sure. 
She judged somewhat by her own feelings, for it was as 
much as that (pleasant!) to have his; and she was all 
ready for another now, if she would but confess it. “ Be 
careful, Dolly ! Do not confess too much yet. Be sure!” 
she whispered. 



102 


CHAPTER III. 

“Monastic Brotherhood, Upon Rock Aerial." 

Old Mountain House, 
Catskills, N. Y. 

Dear Dolly: 

When I said, in my last, that I should write you next 
from the clouds, and hinted something about a monastic 
life, I did not mean to imply that I really intended join- 
ing a “ brotherhood,” for I knew you would not advise 
that, much as you approve of brothers. I agree with you 
entirely, and I could not, under any conceivable circum- 
stances, say to you, “ Go, get thee to a nunnery.” Al- 
though there is no monastery upon this height, it has 
always seemed to me as if there ought to have been, 
ages ago, at the very first settlement of the country; for 
it is just such a place as was used in the old world for 
that purpose. A wonderful view of the fair fields below, 
which had been forever relinquished, and might only be 
seen thus from afar, while the Indian missionary work 
could be prosecuted here, and religious rites observed in 
all the seclusion desired. But there is nothing of the 
monk in my composition, and as little of the nun in yours, 
I am sure. I think we should agree upon this, if not in 
quite everything else; conceding that it must always be 
better to live out the brief span allotted us in the world, 
rather than removed from it, even if warfare is constant- 
ly going on both within us and without, in the battle of 
life, that must inevitably be taken up somewhere. Trials 


103 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


and discouragements need never bring despair, surely, 
and meeting them bravely must certainly be better than 
fleeing them. This is Sunday, and it must have been 
for that reason, and because I am impressed with the 
belief that you are not attending church today, that I 
have sermonized at greater length than you are ever 
likely to hear from me again. 

A summer hotel may not seem, at first glance, quite 
the place for a youth seeking the sweet refreshment of 
quiet and repose. Yet you must consider that I only take 
my meals here, while the rest of my waking hours are 
spent in walks, or in some sequestered nook, with a volume 
at hand suited to the state of mind. I almost doubt if 
better walks anywhere abound than this lofty plateau af- 
fords. With the height once attained, by comfortable 
modern methods, from the Hudson to the door of the 
hotel, almost, one can then walk miles in various direc- 
tions without any fatiguing climb. Views, charming in 
themselves and in their variety, are constantly opening as 
the advance is made along the path. At one moment you 
look off from the brink of a sheer precipice across the 
noble valley of the Hudson ; and a little later the eye is 
resting on the soft green foliage that fairly billows the 
sides of one of the beautiful “ cloves,” as the valleys are 
here called. 

Sunset Rock, Inspiration Point and many other well- 
known salient points are readily reached from here, besides 
many that may be kept to one’s self until a fair one is 
brought to share the pleasure and give a name to the pet 
discovery. 

The most tantalizing thing about it is,, however (to one 
who thus wanders alone), that the thought ever recurs, 
" Would that my loved one were here!” 


104 


monastic brotherhood. 


Is not that the way that the old fashioned novel puts it ? 
I have one in my bag, and will see, later. 

At those times, when there comes the sense of some- 
thing unattainable at present, yet hungered for, in spite of 
reason, when certain pensive, indescribable stirrings are 
within the heart, that is when one needs another. Possibly 
you could understand better what I mean if you were pres- 
ent amid these beautiful scenes, in the atmosphere of it, 
so to speak. [ “ I think I know something of it,” sighed 
Dolly.] 

If a stern resolve is made to rid one’s self of such fond, 
perhaps delusive fancies, and action is sought; there are 
plenty of expeditions to try the muscles and stir the blood, 
such as the ascent of High Peak and other mountains. I 
have made several of these climbs, and, of course, have 
been over to Twilight Park several times, but my favor- 
ite ramble, one that can be repeated indefinitely, is quite 
close at hand, on North Mountain, nearly upon the level 
of the hotel. Few strollers have discovered it, but one did 
today, and at a very interesting point in my musings. I 
had just been thinking of those lines in “ Love’s Labour’s 
Lost ” (that seldom played but most delightful comedy) : 

" From women’s eyes this doctrine I derive : 

They are the ground, the books, the academes, 

From whence doth spring the true Promethean fire 
When upon my astonished gaze there suddenly came, like 
a “ phantom of delight ” — Lucy Sargent ! I call her 
Lucy because she has desired it, and has also expressed 
the wish that I may always be a brother to her. [ “This 
is too much !” exclaimed Dolly, with a flash in her eye 
that boded no good to either Lucy or Dolph, it is to be 
feared. “ Brother, indeed ! She does not mean it for a 


I 

DOLPH AND DOLLY. 

moment.” Yet why, she reflected, should that word be 
monopolized so selfishly by her, to the exclusion of a 
thousand Lucys, if Dolph wanted such an enlarged sis- 
terhood.” ] She did look divinely fair. I am sure you 
would have agreed with me if you could have seen her 
stand there, in mute surprise. Those other words, from 
the same play, 

“ A woman’s face with Nature’s own hand painted 

Hast thou 

A woman’s gentle heart.” 
floated into my mind, as I gazed in admiration. 

[“‘Floated!’ You are overwhelmed, engulfed, stranded! 
And as for her, she is a horrid — but let me get to the end 
of this at once.” said the now thoroughly aroused Dolly.] 
Lucy managed to gasp, at last, “ The lone fisherman, 
again!” Of course Ned Wright appeared at almost the 
next instant, for he can be relied on to shadow her very 
closely, if one can speak of anything so sombre as 
shadows in connection with such a cheerful spirit as Ned. 
He met us at the Casino, in Newport, that evening, and 
was the occasion of Lucy’s remark (about not feeling re- 
sponsibilities too heavily in any way) of which I wrote 
you. Poor girl! It must indeed have been a relief to 
feel that Ned was by her side again, for a series of acci- 
dents, “ by flood and field,” as he said, had prevented their 
meeting for weeks until he appeared so suddenly at our v 
Casino party. 

They were together for good and all, now — actually 
married since I last saw them — to my great surprise, and 
I looked reproachfully at Ned, for he had always declared 
that I should be present if he ever entered those bonds. I 
had considered that a most unlikely event until I saw, at 
Newport, that he had met his fate. 


106 


MONASTIC BROTHERHOOD. 

“We have been engaged long enough/’ laughed Ned, 
as he saw my surprise, “ but it was a secret that I could 
not share even with you for good and sufficient reasons, 
I assure you ; and as for marrying without formal notice 
served, I found that I must start for Europe on a business 
trip, at short notice, and Lucy decided I must not go 
alone* You had mysteriously disappeared, no one knew 
where, so we were obliged, though reluctantly, to get 
along without you.” 

“ We really were very sorry, Mr. Rogers, both of us,” 
said Mrs. Wright (as I must now call her), with an appeal- 
ing look for mercy that quite disarmed me. “ Ned has 
told me so much about you,” she continued, “ and I liked 
you when I first met you at Inglefield (with that very 
pretty and altogether delightful Miss Dalrymple, you re- 
member), so we especially wanted you at the wedding. 
You would not have had us put it off on your account 
until Ned’s return from Europe would you, Dolph?” she 
asked, with such a funny pleading air that I told her 
I should indulge in no reproaches, especially as it seemed 
to be my fault, more than theirs, that I was absent. She 
has an absurdly exaggerated idea of a debt of gratitude 
to me, that can never be repaid, because Ned has told her 
that I pulled him out of the water, years ago, just as he 
was going under with the cramp. So it must always be 
“ Dolph ” and “ Lucy ” hereafter, she says. I share her 
admiration for Ned, for he was the best friend possible to 
me in my first year at college. He was a senior when I 
entered, and several years older ; for he took 
his course late compared to mine. I entered 
rather too early I have thought since then. He 
comes as near to my ideal of what makes up a man as 


107 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


any one I have ever met. He is absolutely fearless, but 
so unassuming that you would never know it unless some- 
thing appeared to try his courage. He is always depend- 
able, fair, considerate, and with an endless fund of good 
humor ; yet no one ever seems to presume upon it, because 
he is so clear-headed as well as big-hearted. They de- 
serve their happiness together, and as I wished them 
“ Bon voyage,” my heart added “ God speed ” — for life. 

So we parted, they together in blissful, unalloyed (be- 
cause unselfish) happiness for their voyage upon the deep, 
and through life; and I to wander still further on my 
lonely way, for I am about to “ take to the woods ” liter- 
ally — the Adirondack spruces and balsams, which are said 
to be so healing to man’s physical if not to all his mental 
needs. I do not find myself less happy for this glimpse 
of their felicity. Certainly there is a kind of happiness 
that may be seen in other men’s eyes, in spite of the con- 
trary opinion which has been expressed. That which I 
saw in Ned’s was not only devoid of pain to me, but has 
made me the happier and better to have looked upon, even 
though I may never find the same fruition in my life. 
Yes, Dolly, I feel happier tonight than when I left home, 
happier, I believe, than ever before in my life. 

That is the way I would keep it if I could, meeting life 
strongly, hopefully always, as Ned has in his struggles. 
Perhaps it is Ned’s strong presence that has wrought the 
change, if only a temporary one, or, perhaps — but that 
way danger lies. 

Your loving brother, 

Dolph. 

Dolly’s sensations can be better imagined than de- 
scribed, for any attempt would fail to do justice to the 

4 108 


MONASTIC BROTHERHOOD. 


sudden transformation in her feelings, as she saw how 
she had utterly misunderstood and misjudged both Dolph 
and Lucy. She did not know, at first, whether she ought 
to be most vexed with Dolph or herself. 

It might all be a perfectly innocent narration of his, and 
he might take it for granted that she knew much more 
about the Sargents than he did ; for they had recently be- 
come residents of Inglefield. On the other hand, he 
might have been trying an educating process with her. 
If Dolph had done that! Well, suppose he had, what 
should be his penalty? Preliminary tortures, and then 
annihilation would be too merciful, she decided, at first ; 
but finally she hoped he had , sighing at her own secret 
admiration of his masterly management of an old, old 
artifice. She would tell him that at least, sometime. 
On second thought of course she could not, though, for 
that would be reopening the closed door with a vengeance, 
and it would be an allowance of interest where she was 
supposed to have none whatsoever. After all, it might 
have been quite inadvertent — this lack of mention of Mr. 
Wright earlier — and she must make inquiry now about 
these new neighbors, to one of whom Dolph’s friend was 
so happily married. 

What injustice she had done to Lucy, as Dolph called 
her, and why should he not speak of her so, now that the 
matter was all cleared so satisfactorily? She laughed as 
she remembered that this was the young lady whom she 
had recently accused, internally, of victimizing Dolph, 
and found words inadequate to properly characterize. 
Yet this same Lucy Sargent said, “ That very pretty and 
altogether delightful Miss Dalrymple ! ” Lucy must 
have looked her over calmly and critically to have formed 

109 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


this opinion of her lover’s best friend’s friend, so the opin- 
ion was the more valuable. After prolonged effort to 
weigh and summarize it all, Dolly’s final feeling was one 
of profound relief ; and then came the wonder that any 
relief should be needed by her — but that was too abstruse 
and complicated a matter to go into further, at present. 
Dolph had said, at the last of the letter, that he was 
happier than ever before, and as to herself, she was more 
comfortable in her mind than she had been lately — so 
much was sure. But then, as to its being her mind 
that was more comfortable, was it that, after all, or could 
she mean something different? 

Without giving further answer to this rather hazily 
formed query, except by a little heightened color, she 
sallied forth in search of general information on the situ- 
ation ; that is to say, concerning the Sargents, and decided 
to call first of all upon her sister. Inglefield contained a 
good many dear friends, quite a number of whom were 
her relatives. Besides her sister Celia and Charlie there 
was Will Smith, who had married Dolph’s sister Bessie; 
and another sister Peggy, whose husband was Harry 
Burden; and then Harry’s sister Jess had married Sam 
Rogers, Dolph’s older brother. Will Smith’s partner, 
Mr. Brown, and his beautiful wife (Dolph’s old friend, 
Julia Hasker) had recently come to reside at Inglefield. 
Of course these were for the most part friends and rela- 
tives of Dolph, but they seemed to Dolly almost like her 
own relatives, which, she reflected, was a funny way of 
looking at it. 

The latest accession to their circle had been Mr. and 
Mrs. Sargent, who had come so recently that she had not 
yet called upon them. 


IIO 


MONASTIC BROTHERHOOD. 

As Celia had this call in mind also, she proposed to 
her that they go at once. 

To her extreme surprise she found Mr. and Mrs. 
Wright there, and it almost seemed as if Lucy understood 
and mischievously enjoyed the situation. In answer to 
Dolly’s open-eyed wonder at finding those present whom 
she supposed were sailing the ocean blue, she laughingly 
said: “It was not our fault, and we are going very 
soon, please ! Isn’t it funny how aggrieved one’s best 
friends are when they find that those who should have de- 
parted are still with them. We had to put it off one 
week, until the next steamer, on account of a telegram 
that Ned received at the last moment. Are you not glad 
that I am here to introduce my brother and his wife, and 
my husband,” she added, with a little flush of pride in 
using the new word. 

“ It is a great mystery to me that you should know 
enough about our movements to wonder at all , though of 
course I feel that it is very complimentary,” continued 
Lucy, and then added : “ Dolph is the only one, besides 

my brother and his wife, who could have told you, so far 
as I can see ; but that lone fisherman is far away in some 
woodland wilds, where even dryads and nymphs cannot 
penetrate to console him. If he has not made as sudden 
a return as we did, then you two must have some occult 
power of divining things. Is it thought transference ? But 
never mind, now, how it has come about. I want to tell 
you that I am heartily glad to see you again, for, as I 
confided to Dolph, I liked you the first time we met, 
which you may remember was quite by chance, and with 
him. Do not feel compelled to reciprocate, Dolly, if I 
may call you so on such short acquaintance. I am not 


in 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


given to gushing, I assure you, if my liking for you and 
Dolph does seem a little sudden and fervent! He saved 
Ned’s life,” she said, with deep feeling now, “ and think 
what that means to me. I wish I had the power to do 
something that would make Dolph very, very happy, to 
repay just a little the happiness that he has made possi- 
ble to me.” She looked wistfully out of eyes a little be- 
dimmed as she concluded by saying, gently, and almost 
shyly, as if in some embarrassment at what would come. 
“ He needs so much what I have found, and he deserves 
it from some true woman, whose name he would not 
thank me to even guess, perhaps, though I wish I could, 
for I should feel better then.” 

Dolly was to hear Dolph’s praises again that afternoon, 
for presently Mrs. Brown came in, and they had not con- 
versed long before she said : “ Where is my staunch and 

true knight, Dolph Rogers, he who attended me so faith- 
fully years since at Ridgeville, when I was convalescing? 
He admired me exceedingly, then, I am proud to declare, 
and if not so very youthful and beardless I believe Dan 
would have grown a trifle jealous at such pronounced 
attentions. You are friends still?” 

“ Yes, indeed,” replied Dolly, laughing. “ He is like 
a brother to me,” but somehow it came less naturally 
than she had expected, and the remembrance of Dolph’s 
wry face at the same word not so long since caused an- 
other laugh, and then a blush. She hastened to add: 
“ He retains all his old-time admiration for you, I am 
sure, and has expressed himself as delighted at your de- 
cision to come here and live.” 

“ I have had him on my mind a good deal of late,” 
said Julia. “ The last time I saw him I thought he looked 


112 


MONASTIC BROTHERHOOD. 


pale and thin and a trifle worried, and as I remember 
some of the signs of old, I jumped to the conclusion, in 
true feminine style, that he was in love and that she had 
proved unkind. He is like a brother to me, as well as to 
you, and if we are to prove good sisters to him this case 
must be looked into. What can you think of to help 
him ?” 

“ Oh, I am sure he is doing better now !” said Dolly, 
smiling a little consciously, she feared, “ for he has re- 
gained both his appetite and color, and good spirits, too, 
during his vacation at the seashore and mountains.” 

“ I am rejoiced to hear it,” exclaimed Julia (remarking 
to herself, “ How pretty and animated the girl looks!”) 
“ She has relented, then, and is kind. What is her name, 
or is that a secret even from his sisters?” 

“ They are not always confiding to sisters about those 
things, you know!” said Dolly, whose equanimity had 
returned. 

“ The demure puss!” Julia said to herself, but to Dolly 
she replied, with a sigh, “ I know it, dear,” brightening 
visibly as she added, “ I am very glad you have such good 
reports from him, and it is brotherly for him to write, 
if only about his appetite! He will get along now I 
am sure.” 

Dolly reflected, after Julia had gone, that she had ad- 
mitted (part of it inadvertently) considerable that might 
set her to thinking ; but she did not care so much as per- 
haps she ought. If it pleased Mrs. Brown to make a 
good deal out of Dolph’s letters — brotherly ones — she 
might have that satisfaction, certainly. 

As to Julia, she clutched Dan so hard on his return from 
the city that he said : “ Why this extreme fervor ? Have 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


you heard of a new engagement, and are you thanking 
your stars that you are well beyond that delightful but 
inconclusive period?” 

“How did you know it, wonderful man! Yes, that 
was it. Aren’t girls funny, Dan, especially just before 
they are engaged? When they are on the verge!” 

“ I don’t know much about girls in general,” he an- 
swered. “ There is only one girl for me.” A loyal sen- 
timent that yielded the expected reward. 

Dolly went home in very good spirits, and hastened to 
her accustomed haunt, the arbor, where retrospect and 
reverie were indulged of late to a much greater degree 
than formerly. 

There had been quite an informal reception at the Sar- 
gents, and the talk had not been wholly about Dolph, by 
any means; in fact, not of him at all except as others 
introduced the subject to Dolly. There was an animated 
discussion on the merits of the three typical villages of 
Inglefield, Ridgeville and Mussel Bay, in which she had 
championed her native place, while Peggy set forth the 
charms of Ridgeville, and Jess defended Mussel Bay 
most loyally. 

They all agreed, finally, that the villages were so dif- 
ferent in kind that each might be the very best of its type. 
Inglefield represented the best of the suburban class, 
brightly modern, in the right way, with every up to date 
convenience ; youthful, it is true, but with a most desir- 
able population, both as to cultivation and good breeding. 

Ridgeville represented the old New England type of 
inland village at its jest, and was so dear to the hearts 
of city dwellers who had originated there that they looked 
forward to a final retirement in old age, within its 
borders. 


MONASTIC BROTHERHOOD. 


Mussel Bay, reluctant to yield to any movement toward 
making it a seaside resort of fashion, was well content to 
dream away life as it had been forced to do since its old 
commercial importance had departed in the early years of 
the century. There was a charm, surely, in each of these 
places, and each was, as it should be, a distinctive one. 

As Dolly left the arbor there were tender lights flick- 
ering in her eyes (not imprisoned there yet!) that might 
have given Dolph a little hope if he could have been pres- 
ent. 

She had been thinking of Lucy’s words about the hap- 
piness that he needed so much from some true woman, 
and of Julia’s question, “What is her name?” What 
was it? 



i*5 


CHAPTER IV. 

“A Brotherhood of Venerable Trees.” 

Lake Placid, 
Adirondacks, N. Y. 

Dear Dolly : 

I entered the forest at Blue Mountain Lake, and have 
lately emerged here, after a week’s canoeing and tramp- 
in o ; with the conviction already char that this is the gem 
of the Adirondack Lakes. 

There is just that irregularity in the shores which a 
lake needs, to gain the charming interlacing effect that 
artists love; and the mountains come close down to the 
water’s edge, as they always should, but so seldom do. 

The soft green of the foliage and its density prove a 
constant delight, and so restful to the eye — quite encir- 
cling this lakelet; but though small, you would not wish 
such a gem larger. The shadows and reflections gave an 
added charm, as I rowed slowly around this matchless 
sheet of water, seeking a quiet nook on its shores, where 
I might finish the old fashioned novel that I told you I 
possessed. It is one of Miss Burney’s (Madame D’Ar- 
blay) and bears the enticing title of “ Camilla — A Pic- 
ture of Youth.” The three volumes of closely printed 
type would make quite a library of modern fiction, for 
our great grandmothers had something worth while when 
the occasional romance of that day appeared. Books were 
not advertised, paraded and pushed then as now; nor 
produced in countless editions of many thousand copies, 


BROTHERHOOD OF TREES. 


with the assurance that each particular work was the 
“ success of the season/’ 

A novel in those days was a thing to be taken seriously 
and deliberately, read, reread, and cried or rejoiced over, 
by turns, as the soft-hearted damsels of that period turned 
the leaves. [“ Does he mean that some of us now are 
hard-hearted?” questioned Dolly, with a smile at some- 
thing in her thoughts, just then.]. 

I will not attempt to go into the merits of the story at 
present, nor quote passages that might thrill you with 
divers and diverse emotions ; but I must tell you the his- 
tory of this book. 

There are three interesting endorsements on the fly-leaf, 
made there by fair owners of different generations; the 
last one adding comments of her own on her mother’s 
and grandmother’s entries. 

June ist, 1800. 

Diverted, agonized, and enthralled in rhapsody by 
turns, I finish this book in profound admiration at the 
exalted sentiments conveyed. 

Barbara Griswold. 

Christmas Eve, 1825. 

Judged by the rigorous standard of a more discrim- 
inating age, there are faults of construction, readily dis- 
covered, while the sentiments seem unduly strained at 
times ; but in spite of these blemishes and defects, I could 
not refrain from finishing it tonight. 

Susan Moore. 

April 10th, 1850. 

Oh, you prim little mamma! How careful you were 
not to commit yourself ; and yet you allowed to me years 


117 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


after, that you sat up till midnight to finish it — against 
the rules, too! My sympathies are all with grandma in 
her enthusiastic verdict ; only she must let me add that it 
is in parts “ deliciously absurd,” as Fred calls me some- 
times. 

Mary Alden. 

There is quite a story connected with my possession of 
this book. Ned Wright, Billy Wild, and myself, were 
talking one evening, in random fashion, in my room at 
college; and the subject last up was the degree in which 
sentiment could possibly have a place in the minds of two 
of our official family — “ Fatty Smith,” the steward, and 
“ Doctor Dryasdust,” as we called him, the librarian. 
These pleasantly descriptive titles for our somewhat port- 
ly provider of sustenance, and rather gaunt dispenser of 
literature, were in general use throughout the college. 

It was finally agreed that the two were about on a par 
as to the possession of even germs , as Billy said; but a 
vote showed that Fatty “ had the call,” as Ned expressed 
it for a corner in the real article — though what he had 
was slightly unctuous. I stuck to the doctor, notwith- 
standing their declaration that my judgment was “ way 
off.” Some days afterward, when I had quite forgotten 
this incident, I happened to be in the library, just at the 
closing hour, and was surprised, as I reached the door, 
at a hail from the rear room. “ Come here young man, T 
want to talk with you.” I turned back and entered the 
old librarian’s sanctum, in some wonder at what might 
come next. The old gentleman lit a cigar, which was of 
itself a revelation, for I had never seen him smoke be- 
fore, and settled himself back in his arm chair comforta- 


118 


BROTHERHOOD OF TREES. 


bly, as if about entering upon a long discourse. He 
puffed away for a few moments, collecting his thoughts 
apparently, and if there was speculation in his gaze, it 
was rather concerning events long passed, than anything 
of recent interest. 

I was left for some time to conjecture at my will, as to 
his next deliverance. Finally, he looked up, and said : 
■“ I feel like a school boy released from his tasks for a 
holiday, although I hardly know what I shall play at now 
that my studies are finished. I have today corrected the 
last proof of my great work (it is always that, you know, 
to the author’s imagination) which has so closely en- 
grossed my time for a quarter of a century — ever since 
Mary died ” — he added sadly. I began to think that the 
old fellow’s mind was affected, or else my own, for this 
revelation of smoke, the great work, any Mary in the 
case, and that I should be the confidant of all this ; proved 
almost too much for my equanimity. 

I had never heard of his having a work in prepara- 
tion, and the idea of a serious attachment to anything but 
his round of duties, seemed absurd; for though I had 
given him my vote as a hard alternative to choosing 
Fatty as a man of sentiment, I could not well imagine 
the doctor as ever afflicted that way. “ I do not know 
what the world may think of my work, nor do I care so 
vitally as some would, although I have a certain kind of 
faith in it, as all should have who write of anything. It 
seemed the thing at hand to do, one that I had some fit- 
ness for, and I seized upon it eagerly, feverishly at first, 
not hoping to forget, but in some degree to alleviate the 
distress that was well nigh insupportable when I lost my 
wife — my Mary.” He paused for a time, while I sat in 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


amazement at the new light thus thrown upon this man’s 
life, and to me, a youngster, presumably quite unknown 
to him. 

I could not help reproaching myself, too, somewhat, 
in having so misjudged this self-contained man who had 
suffered so long in silence. The doctor, at length, pro- 
ceeded : “ You will be surprised when I say that I 

would rather be the author of a good love story (one 
that should have power to bring a single pair lovingly 
together, who had let meaner things intervene) 
than have all the fame possible from this book 
of mine, technical and abstruse, and serviceable as I hope 
it may be. Hundreds of love stories are written, but how 
few appeal to the real heart of a man or woman who has 
rightly loved. To touch such lives there is little need of 
clash of steel, strong situations, or morbid self-commun- 
ings, to rivet the attention. The story may run upon the 
simplest lines, but it must breathe truly the spirit of that 
wonderland which once to enter means to be forever 
blest — as I have been. Yes, I can say it now, though 
in that first bitterness of loss I could not. The world 
needs such tales to help, so far as outward things have 
power, the wavering, thoughtless, selfish, or groping 
ones, who are continually wrecking their own or other’s 
lives by wandering away from what they most need to 
sweeten life. Perhaps this story of my own life, may 
keep you from wandering yet, and that may be the rea- 
son why I am telling it. It is enough for me to know 
that you are the son of James Rogers, my earliest and 
best friend, and if good comes of it to you or him, it is 
a happy outcome. Besides,” he added, with a momentary 
twinkle in his eye, “ your vote for me should predispose 


120 


BROTHERHOOD OF TREES. 


me in your, favor!” though how he should have learned 
this has always been a puzzle that I have vainly tried to 
solve. “ There must either be a great many people who 
know their hearts very poorly, or else they are not true 
to their convictions,” he said, as if debating it in his mind. 
“ When people realize that their hearts belong to each 
other, it ought to be a plainer, simpler pathway, than too 
many make it. Why should what I have called meaner 
things, be allowed to prevail here, so often, lowering the 
dignity of a true love? There are enough cases when 
loving hearts must be kept asunder for a time, or possibly 
forever, from causes that are uncontrollable ; but so many 
wander apart when the road is fair before them. That I 
call a crime. Thank heaven Mary and I made no miser- 
able mistake of that kind. 

“ Her father was a millionaire, no worse nor better 
for that, as I told him in our first difference ; for he had 
refused his consent to the union on grounds that seemed 
to me sordid, although he was not a sordid man, and was 
a just one finally. ‘ I love your daughter/ I said, ‘ and 
can support her comfortably, and if you share her belief 
in my honor why should you seek to keep her from her 
best happiness? You have raised the issue of money, 
not I, and as you weigh it in the scale against her, I hope 
she will join me in my resolve never to receive any at 
your hands. I say it without temper, nor do I consider it 
quixotic — for I want this factor removed, once for all. 
I respect everything in you except this idea that has 
grown with the accumulation of wealth, and I hope to 
win from you eventually a liking and respect that money 
could never bring. You will know and feel this, sir, at 


DOLPII AND DOLLY. 


least, that those nearest you can hereafter be met with- 
out a thought of money being involved in any way/ 

“ Her father smiled at my youthful fervor, giving me 
credit I think, at least, for being unworldly, if unprac- 
tical, and answered : ‘ It would be a novel, and in some 
respects refreshing experience ; and now Mary, what do 
you say?’ with an air which seemed to imply that she 
would be too sensible to join in any such rash assertion 
as I had made. 

“ Her face was white, but resolved, as she said slowly 
and gently, though there was a decision in her tone that 
could not be mistaken. ‘ I think Fred is right, father. I 
considered it all as he spoke, and agree entirely with his 
view of it. It is the only time in our lives that, you and I 
have really differed. I hate this money that comes be- 
tween us now. You did not count things that way when 
you married mother, and I am sure you really love me 
better than all your riches. My happiness lies with Fred, 
father, just as mother’s did with you; and the more I 
love him, the more I love you, but not your horrid 
money!’ Coming close to his side as she finished, with a 
smile through her tears. 

“ ‘ You are right in your final conclusion, my dear, 
that I love you better than my money,’ he said, ‘ and to 
prove it I suppose I shall have to let this young man have 
you, eventually, although you must not draw the lines 
quite so closely against my future benevolent impulses as 
you both seem to wish. I am satisfied that it is you he 
cares for, and let it rest there.’ But we didn’t. ‘ Our 
mind is firm !’ as Mary used to say, 4 to receive nothing 
but your love, good will and respect, and you can give 
us all of that you wish or whatever we deserve. I know 


122 


BROTHERHOOD OF TREES. 


it is provoking and unprecedented, but then it is unique, 
too ! Tell your friends, papa !’ 

“ He did, finally, with a kind of pride in the telling, 
but not until he had called us an obstinate pair of im- 
practicables, a good many times, first ; and vowed that he 
would get even with us in the next generation if not in 
this. Mary’s tastes were simple, such as my modest for- 
tune and salary could supply, and I used to tell her father 
that whatever his opinion might be of me, I liked him 
more and more now that he was separated from his 
money. 

“ ‘ I like your cool impudence,’ he rejoined. I think he 
finally enjoyed the peculiarity of the situation, after he 
was fairly used to it. When a friend of his was laying 
the law down very strictly and earnestly, as to what his 
daughters should have and who they shouldn’t have, I 
have understood that he said with something that sound- 
ed like a chuckle. * Careful, Judkins, what you say! You 
may catch a Tartar for a son-in-law, as I did ; especially 
if your daughter is as hot-headed and deeply in love as 
mine was. In that case they will marry any way and 
cut you off without a cent,’ ending with high glee at the 
humor of having had this process of disinheritance ap- 
plied in his own case, so sorely against his will. He out- 
lived Mary’s brief span, and as there was no child that 
survived, his threat as to the next generation was un- 
availing. We lived together, until his death, ten years 
after hers, and we drew even closer, as the years went 
on, in mutual liking and respect. 

“ He enjoyed talking of Mary’s beauty and gentleness, 
and loving care of both of us, and of the spirit she had 
shown in standing by me — ‘when her father behaved like a 


123 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


fool ' as he put it. ‘You were an obstinate pair, Fred, 
but it served me right, and it seemed as if Mary and I 
loved each other all the more, after you cut me off from 
my money/ The last words he said were : ‘ She is close 

by you, my poor boy, and always will be. How rich she 
made us, Fred ! ’ 

“ I think sometimes of those words, but oftener of 
Mary’s own, as she left me : It is only a little while, 
dear ; and we have had so much — so much of happiness.’ 
I found that her father had made me his executor, and 
after providing for a few relatives and certain charities, 
the rest was given to the college library, where he knew 
my main interest centered. There was a proviso that this 
last bequest should be null and void — ‘ unless my be- 
loved son-in-law, Frederick Ardmore, accepts the sum of 
$20,000 in payment for his services in executing this will.’ 
So I had to take something at his hand, finally, although 
it was for services rendered. He knew that I could not 
well refuse it in that way, even if the gift to the library 
was not conditional upon my serving. 

“ Well, my boy, this has been a long story, and the 
moral of it is not hard to find, I hope. My reasons for 
telling it to you have been hinted at — but there must be 
another — for Mary seems strangely near me tonight, and 
it is almost as if she had impelled me to it. Take this 
book that she once owned and keep it in remembrance of 
her and of my talk with you, until you meet some one 
dearer than your life, and then let her have it, with the 
story of how you came by it. May she be as true-hearted, 
as loving and as gentle as my Mary, or as near to it as is 
possible here on earth. Good-night, and good-bye, 
my lad.” And with a grasp of the hand that was like his 
voice, a little tremulous, we parted. 


124 


BROTHERHOOD OF TREES. 


The next morning he was found in the same room 
where I had left him — sitting in the same chair — his work 
finished, and his spirit gone to join his beloved Mary. 

The events I have related all came about so quickly and 
strangely that they made an ineffaceable impression upon 
my mind. '1 have never judged people since by the sem- 
blance of things merely. You, Dolly, are the only one to 
whom I have ever mentioned this matter, for it has 
seemed too sacred. 

As I love you better than my life (a brother may do 
that, my dear), and as you are as true-hearted, brave, lov- 
ing and gentle as Mary could possibly have been, I want 
you to have the book, of which you already know the 
history. It should reach you by your birthday, surely, if 
I send it at once, while I may be delayed a day or two 
beyond that, though not if I can help it. From here I go 
to Saratoga for a day, via Lake Champlain and Lake 
George, thence Williamstown in the Berkshires, and to 
New York, where I once more take up the practice of that 
legal profession which I can hardly be said to adorn as yet. 
In a few days I hope to see you again, after what has 
seemed to me a long — very long — absence. 

We were never apart a month before in our lives, you 
know, yet, as I write, you seem somehow closer than 
ever before. 

Your loving brother, 

Dolph. 

As Dolly dropped the letter in her lap, at last, with glis- 
tening eyes, she sighed very deeply, from some feeling 
that she could not quite satisfactorily explain, and then 
smiled, as she said to herself : “ I must be growing 

sentimental, I do believe! Something has stirred me 

/ 125. 1 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


strangely, and made my heart ache for the poor doctor s 
years of lonely waiting and longing for his Mary, while 
bravely striving to finish his allotted task. Or is it 
Dolph’s way of putting these things, and his loneliness, 
that has reached the deepest into my heart ? ” 

The book followed the letter so closely that it arrived 
later upon the same day, and as she read the entries upon 
the leaf and the whole story that Dolph had told came 
again before her, she knew that “ Camilla ” was now 
become the greatest treasure among her books. What- 
ever might be its literary merit, the pathetic story 
of its former owner, and Dolph’s relation to it, 
made the value priceless. 'She was proud to think that - 
the old librarian had chosen him as the fit recipient of 
such a dear link with the departed Mary. 

How real and lifelike this gentle girl appeared as the 
lines she had written were read by Dolly ! “ Deliciously 

absurd! as Fred calls me, sometimes. ,, “ Fred,” so 
strong, loyal, loving to her — grander than any knight of 
story ; but only known to a later, unthinking generation as 
“ Doctor Dryasdust,” an unsentimental, plodding toiler. 
How little the world dreamed what a romance he kept, 
ever fresh within him, as the best he could know of life. 
She decided, as Dolph had done at the time he heard the 
story, to judge no one’s life or character by outward 
seeming again. The words “ deliciously absurd,” which 
Mary had used, as sometimes applied to her by her lover, 
kept running in Dolly’s head, as strangely familiar, some- 
how ; and then she remembered, suddenly, that Dolph had 
once used those very same words about her! She won- 
dered if he had remembered, too! Yes, he must have 


126 



BROTHERHOOD OF TREES. 

done so, and that made another link between them and 
the book. 

Doubtless* a great many lovers — and brothers — had 
used the word before; but it must generally have been 
used by the lovers to their sweethearts, she blushingly 
allowed. 

Dolly applied herself now to the three-volume Camilla, 
and though she followed the story with interest, the book 
was frequently dropped for a few moments while she in- 
dulged in what must have been most happy musings, 
judging by the light in her eyes, and the smile that flit- 
ted about her lips, searching for that dimple, perhaps, 
whose location Dolph could have told, had he only been 
present. 

It is hardly fair to say what sweet refrain kept repeat- 
ing itself in Dolly’s heart, but once it sounded so loudly 
that she could almost hear it — “ Dolph is coming ! ” 



127 


CHAPTER V. 

'‘How Fast Has Brother Followed Brother.” 

Dolph was not the only suitor who had to be relegated 
to the ranks of the brethren, although Dolly considered 
him in a class by himself — very, very different from the 
others. 

When a reputable youth sues for the hand of a fair 
one whom he loves devotedly, or at least fancies so, she 
must treat him patiently and gently, even when she is 
obliged to be very decisive in the denial of his fondest 
hopes. There had been several disappointed swains, in- 
cluding one far past his youth, so mature, in fact, that she 
was sure his happiness (another name for creature com- 
forts that he allowed he was particular about) could be 
quite as well found with an elderly housekeeper as with 
her. He could be depended upon taking excellent care 
himself of his personal dignity, for his sense of what 
was due him there was painfully acute. She had told 
him, without fear of inflicting any deep or lasting wound 
by her refusal, that she hoped to retain him always as a 
friend, and when he had suggested “ brother,” she could 
not gainsay the word, although there was such a differ- 
ence in the use of that name. 

There was a still more recent case, remarkable by con- 
trast, for if that one had been December, this was certain- 
ly May; but she had been obliged to chill the early blos- 
soming, before it fairly flowered. He called it a “ frost,” 
later ; but he could not indulge in such playfulness at the 


123 


BROTHER FOLLOWED BROTHER. 


time, k was too real, and to have his most ardent, finest 
emotions dashed so completely would make him a wretch- 
ed, despairing man forever. She told him that he would 
yet thank her, when he had recovered from this boyish 
fancy, but he shook his head gloomily and reproachfully, 
and murmured something of a “ wrecked life.” He re- 
covered, in time, so completely as to forgive her and say 
she was “ a jolly, sensible girl,” and that she should be a 
sister to him at any rate, although she protested that she 
felt more like his mother. So here was another brother 
on her hands ! The fateful arbor must be responsible for 
it all, for it was here they “ rounded up,” as Dolph had 
been cruel enough to call it; this flippant remark being 
all the consolation he gave when she lamented over her 
trials, seeking his brotherly counsel — without use of 
names, of course — though he could not help having his 
ideas. 

And now still another was before her, in Mr. Rivers; 
quite a new type, so pleasantly, obtusely unconvincible, 
and assured of final success in his suit that she hardly 
knew how to manage the case. When a man obstinately 
and complacently holds, in perfect good humor with the 
lady and himself, that she will know her own mind better 
finally, and almost pities her present state in not realizing 
what she would lose, it is a little difficult to find the 
means at once of convincing him. Mr. Rivers had been 
quite oblivious of the coolness with which Dolly strove to 
invest the atmosphere, as a fair warning; and his ad- 
vances had been, as he believed, steady, if slow, so that 
by easy gradation he had come nearer and nearer to the 
fulfillment of his desires. The present hour seemed an 
especially propitious one, for it was dewy eve {damp, she 


129 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


called it, and wished he would go), and all nature smiled, 
all but Dolly, who frowned, fairly vexed with the man’s 
fatuous persistence. He quoted to himself, as nearly as 
he could remember, something about “ fortune taken at 
the flood,” and essayed another plunge ; recollecting, too, 
that “ still waters run deep and might he hope that 
they would sweep him, not into the ocean of oblivion, but 
nearer, quite close, in fact, to her arms? He had used 
some of these figures of speech aloud to her, and he flat- 
tered himself that it had been so strongly, yet delicately, 
put, that she could not reject so advantageous a union 
as he had presented. 

He had now come to reason and argument (as if those 
merely could move a woman!), and had pleasantly asso- 
ciated her with himself, by saying : “ Now, my dear 

young lady, let us be reasonable,” which was kind of him, 
because he was reasonable already, as he very well knew. 
'But Dolly never liked to be called reasonable, and par- 
ticularly disliked being addressed as " my dear young 
lady,” added to which was the fact (that he could not 
seem to understand) that she would never be his dear, 
under any circumstances whatsoever. If she must be 
some one’s dear — but that was neither here nor there, not 
'here, surely ! 

“ Let us see,” Mr. Rivers continued, in his most in- 
gratiating tone, as a fit introduction to an argument that 
he trusted might be convincing; “'let us see wherein we 
have points of similarity, for that must count in our long 
life (as I hope), together.” 

An impious thought, by some imp implanted, impelled 
the now thoroughly provoked Dolly to say : “ Long life 
jwith your granny, more likely!” and she recoiled with 


130 


BROTHER FOLLOWED BROTHER. 

horror for a moment for fear she had uttered the thought. 
The whole thing seemed so ludicrous, immediately after- 
ward, that she had difficulty in restraining her laughter. 

“ You smile at the thought/’ proceeded Mr. Rivers, 
detecting that part of the laugh that escaped to the surface. 
“ but similarity of temperament, tastes, habits, aspirations, 
are great factors in so vitally important a matter as this 
which now interests us.” 

“ But I am not interested, Mr. Rivers, and” — — 

“ If you will allow me, for just a moment,” he said 
tolerantly but firmly, “ you and I have, certainly, many 
outward things in common, before we come to spiritual 
affinities.” He paused a moment, to enjoy the thought 
of intimate association that the constant coupling of their 
names together afforded him, while Dolly wished he 
could know how she hated talk about “ affinities ” of any 
kind. “ We are of the same age, or nearly so, both fair 
in complexion, eyes of the same general color, and hair, 
too, while I think you will admit that there is just the 
right difference in height.” 

But Dolly admitted nothing of the kind, and as to her 
hair, while it had always suited her, if it was like his it 
would suit no more. Her eyes were pretty nearly snap- 
ping, at present, and he knew nothing about how they 
looked when she was thinking of — yes, of Dolph. She 
blushed very becomingly at the last thought, as Mr. 
Rivers noticed, and it encouraged him to go on. 

“ Leaving mere externals, now, note, if you please, 
how our tastes agree in ordinary pursuits. It is my 
privilege to know that you enjoy riding, sailing, golf, 
music, art, literature and society within reasonable limits, 
while domestic duties are joys to you, I am sure. A 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


picture of cozy content, in a house of our own, is too de- 
lightful for me to allow myself to dwell upon without 
still more disturbance to a heart that is all yours, Miss 
Dalrymple, if you will but take it. Do not, for the sake 
of both of us, shatter this dream of mine,” he added, in 
what he considered a fine conclusion to a remarkably well- 
put plea, for he was modestly conscious of the worth of it, 
as he confessed to himself without flattery. 

Poor Dolly meanwhile moaned internally, that she 
“ should be shattered and all broken up ” if he kept on 
much longer. 

“ Coming now to things of the spirit,” commenced Mr. 
Rivers, again, “ how shall I approach it ? ” 

But this was too much, and Dolly interrupted him with 
a grave face, for it seemed almost sacrilege to allow this 
self-sufficient, however well-meaning man, to seek further 
comparisons there. 

“ You had better not approach it at all,” she said, quiet- 
ly but decidedly. “ You have honored me with the offer 
of your hand, which I appreciate, I hope, at its true worth, 
but can never take except in the way of friendship, as 1 
have tried to show you. You must do me the credit to 
believe that I know my own heart when I say that this 
decision is final.” 

It was so decidedly said, and Dolly, who had now risen, 
was so evidently insistent that the interview should ter- 
minate at once that Mr. Rivers was forced to retire, as 
even he could not but perceive. 

“ Only one word more, my dear Miss Dalrymple. 
Should you, within a reasonable time, see cause to come 
to a better decision, giving me the inestimable privilege 
of calling you by a dearer name than sister, you will, I 


brother followed brother. 

know find a way to show me that the hard decree is re- 
versed. For the present I must be content to remain a 
brother” 

Dolly hardly knew whether to laugh or cry, now that 
he was at last gone. It was extremely ludicrous in one 
way, and yet, in another, she felt vexed that such a suitor 
should have had the assurance to approach her at all ; for 
she considered it no compliment to her womanhood to 
have attracted him, harmless as he was. “ Dolph was 
more than half right when he said that family names be- 
long to the family, for I am getting tired of brothers, and 
their pestering ways — except one. If there was only some 
other name I could call him by besides that one which 
would make him so happy ! — I would like to make Dolph 
happy — if I could. Is it possible that some time I may 
be able to, in the way he desires ? ” she concluded, pen- 
sively. 

As she entered once more upon this sea of conjecture 
that had opened upon her horizon of late, it occurred to 
her that the door which shut Dolph out had fastened her 
in quite as effectually, and she was not sure that she liked 
it. Where was he upon this, her birthday ? 

She had hardly realized before how much she counted 
upon having him by her side at such times. 

“ Why Dolph ! How you startled me. Where did 
you appear from so suddenly?” and she was conscious 
that her face was flushed with pleasure, while her hands 
trembled in his grasp. 

“ I came by the old path, which I am glad to see has 
fallen into disuse during my absence, for I should not like 
any one else to share the secret that you confided to me 
so long ago with such profound ceremony !” 


i33 


DOLPII AND DOLLY. 


“ No one else has shared it, certainly, Dolph,” she said 
with a laugh, and another flush came to her cheek as she 
saw how his eyes had lighted with pleasure at so small 
a thing. It was rather odd that in all these years she had 
never told any one else about the path. “ How big and 
brown you look !” she continued, regaining her compos- 
ure and trying to place things back where they were before 
he went away, for there had grown a difference, and it 
must be in her or her way of looking at Dolph, from an- 
other angle , she might call it, as he was a lone fisherman. 
But she did not confide her joke to him. 

“ Yes, I’m brown as a berry, I know, and I have grown, 
certainly in weight if not by inches. What is the latest 
news? I feel like a Rip Van Winkle, quite consistently, 
too, for I am but lately come from his haunts.” 

“ Life has gone on much as usual here,” she replied. 
“ Of course I was overjoyed to meet your new sister, 
Mrs. Wright, or Lucy, as I call her, too,” she added with 
a mischievous look, in great glee at the genuine surprise 
she had given him. “ You need not look so astonished, 
Dolph, for it all came about in the most natural way. 
Celia and I went to call on Mr. and Mrs. Sargent, and 
there we chanced to find Lucy and her husband. She is 
very nice, and we were great friends at once. They had 
to postpone their voyage a week because of some business 
or other. You were discussed a little, and she was par- 
ticular to send her regards to ‘ the lone fisherman.’ There 
was a special message, also, if I can remember it. Oh, 
yes, she said, ‘ Tell Dolph to make a careful note of the 
biggest fish he lands. I caught a hundred and seventy 
pounder once !’ What kind could it have been ; is not that 
a very large fish ?” asked Dolly in all innocence. 


134 


BROTHER FOLLOWED BROTHER. 

Dolph smiled, as he answered, “ Yes, that is quite a fish 
story. Perhaps, though, it was a sword fish, for I remem- 
ber she went out in a party from Block Island once, with 
Ned. That is just his weight.” 

Dolly shot a quick glance at Dolph, but his face was in- 
nocence itself. Could Lucy have meant anything, and 
used her for the fun of it? It was too late now to wreak 
vengeance on her, and Dolph apparently saw no sugges- 
tion in the words. 

The message need not apply to herself necessarily; it 
might have been general. There were many good fish in 
the sea, and some that might never be landed. 

“ Fishing must be a very uncertain pastime/’ she re- 
marked presently. 

“ Yes, that is part of its charm!” he replied, with just 
a suspicion of a twinkle in his eye. 

Changing the subject, she said, in a different 
tone and manner : “ I want to thank you at once, 
for your very kind remembrance of my birthday. 
I am exceedingly glad to have the book as rep- 
resentative of the period, and more gratified still be- 
cause of its history. Fred’s and Mary’s romance will al- 
ways be associated now with “ Camilla/’ for it is ‘ a pic- 
ture of youth ’ that I can never forget — this brief life 
of theirs together. How lonely to him the long years 
that followed her death: and how bravely he strove to 
live them out usefully.” Tears came to Dolly’s eyes at 
the thought of that and something else that suddenly 
softened her heart. 

Dolph made no response. He had been thinking of 
some changes that the weeks of absence had made in her, 
and trying to gain a little hope from them ; and this last 


i35 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


manifestation of a tenderer side than he had yet seen, 
nearly overmastered his decision to await events. It was 
better not to trust his voice just now, for he must not for- 
get her wish. It was not so long ago that she had asked 
him to put away any thought of her except as a sister, 
and although he could not promise to never renew his ef- 
forts for a dearer place in her heart, than that of brother, 
he must at least not press too quickly in opposition to her 
known views. 

So this opportunity, possibly the most auspicious yet for 
his dream’s fulfillment, must be sufifered to pass unused. 

Presently she said “ Charlie has gone South on a long 
business trip, and of course Celia is disconsolate. He dis- 
liked leaving her just now, for she has not seemed very 
well, lately, although I think he has magnified the mat- 
ter.” 

Dolph answered by repeating the lines — 

“ A lover’s eye will gaze an eagle blind ; 

A lover’s ear will hear the lowest sound !” 
and added — “ Charlie will always be a lover !” 

“ You still quote approvingly, I see, from 4 Love’s La- 
bour’s Lost,’ ” she responded, “ but you do not believe 
that such labours are ever really lost do you?” 

“ No! Do you?” he asked, quickly. 

“ No,” she replied, rather uneasily, for she had been 
speaking generally, although it seemed almost like a 
leader to a tabooed subject. Dolph did not press for any 
advantage, and she was divided between approval of his 
restraint, and a feeling that she would not have minded 
so much as once if his “ foolishness ” had recommenced. 
It had been a foolish term for her to use, as she could 


BROTHER FOLLOWED BROTHER. 


now see; for it was too serious a matter (to him, at any 
rate) for her to have characterized in that way. 

She would like to convey to Dolph some idea of her 
change of thought regarding the use of that word; but 
this involved too much. He might not quite understand, 
and think she meant a change of heart, which was a very 
different thing; for she did not believe she was quite 
ready to discuss that yet. 

In a few moments Dolph said: “You evidently have 
read the play, or you would not so readily recognize my 
quotation.” 

“ Yes, after the allusions in one of your letters I could 
not do less. It certainly puts some things inimitably, and 
I would like to see it placed on the stage, very much. But 
Shakespeare is so exacting in his demands for what we 
should now call ‘ talent of the first class,’ that it would 
take an aggregation of really appreciative and capable 
actors to do anything like justice to the comedy — and 
where would you find them ? Anything short of such 
excellence would make the performance a provoking and 
unutterably dreary one. I would rather read it myself, 
or' with some one, than that.” 

“ 1 should like very much to read it with you — under 
some circumstances,” he added, reflecting that it could 
not well be at present. 

Dolly blushed slightly, but very prettily, as he thought, 
and turning the conversation once more, said : “You have 
not told me of your later movements ; since you left Lake 
Placid, I mean. Had you any further adventures? I 
trust you took no more risks like those which your lonely 
cruise in Narragansett Bay entailed.” 


137 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


She continued, in a moment, earnestly, laying her hand 
upon his arm instinctively to emphasize her words, 

Dolph, do not, I beg of you, go off alone again, for 
however good a sailor you may be, there are contingen- 
cies, as you have seen, where the presence of another 
might be vital to your safety; or you might be sick, a 
hundred things might happen to put you in peril. You do 
not want me to be troubled about this I know ; nor suf- 
fer as I did before ; even after the danger was all over/’ 

She finished with an attempted smile ; but her face still 
looked disturbed at the remembrance, and it was useless 
to resist the final questioning appeal of her glance ; while 
he was still thrilling with that unconscious touch upon his 
arm. Useless, even if he had desired to. He assured her, 
in as calm a tone as he could command, that he would 
make no extended trip “ without you or some one else 
in the boat, Dolly ! And now that your mind is at rest on 
that point, I will bring the story of my travels to an end, 
in a very few words. 

“ From Lake Placid I went by coach to Elizabethtown, a 
pretty village finely situated; thence to Lake Champlain 
(not forgetting Au Sable Chasm), and across to Burling- 
ton. The view from the hill back of the city is superb: 
Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks to the west, the 
Winooski Valley and the Green Mountains east — beau- 
tiful scenery in every direction, in fact. Then I went 
on, through Lake George and to the Berkshire Hills, for 
a few hours’ stay at Williamstown, which as you know is 
charming both in its situation among the mountains, and 
its broad street shaded by several rows of grand old trees. 
There is an unusual proportion of fine buildings con- 
sidering the size of the college. 


BROTHER FOLLOWED BROTHER. 

“ I made this side trip because I knew *he place was 
one of your enthusiasms and came away convinced that 
your judgment was correct — in this case.” 

“ I am glad you liked it so much,” she exclaimed ; won- 
dering if there was any intimation sought to be implied 
of another case where her judgment had erred. 

“ To err is human,” she reflected, with consolation hi 
the thought that some errors can be eradicated. 

“ That same evening I was at Saratoga, and a few 
hours more brought me via the Hudson River day-boat, 
to your bower here, and upon your birthday, as I had 
hoped. ‘ Many happy returns !’ if the congratulations 
do seem rather tardy ones. You know they are heart- 
felt.” 

“ Yes, I know that, and thank you as heartily, for your 
good wishes, Dolph. You are very sure that you met 
no more sisters like Lucy, anywhere : not even at Sara- 
toga where so much beauty is so lavishly adorned. You 
know I share your enthusiasm and admiration regarding 
her, and, as good fortune attended you once, I did not 
know but the fickle goddess might have favored you 
again.” 

She wanted to show him how easily she had taken that 
episode, apparently ; and how large-minded and generous 
she was about his friendships with the fair sex ; for it 
would not do for him to get any inkling at present of how 
disturbed, not to say distracted, she really was over 
Lucy’s case. If there should be a time, later, when it 
might be pleasant to allow to it — that was another mat- 
ter. It was strange how these contingencies and suppo- 
sitions (regarding future possibilities') were multiplying 
recently. Did this portend anything? She had never 


i39 


DOLPH AND DOLLV. 


drifted before, for she constitutionally objected to it, as 
showing a weak, inconclusive state of mind; but drifting 
seemed to be the only thing she could do at present, nor 
did she question herself as sternly as she might as to the 
direction in which she was going. 

“ No,” replied Dolph, “ such good fortune did not visit 
me a second time ; either because I did not deserve or de- 
sire it. I had the remembrance of that — and other things 
— to sustain me, and got along ‘ tolerable well, all things 
considered in gineral,’ as an old woman used to say when 
my mother called on her. 

“ What I missed most was a word from you, Dolly, 
just a line to know that you were well, but I thought it 
better not to ask for it. Another time I shall leave you 
my address, so that you can send to it, if for any cause 
you need me.” 

“ You will not be gone from me so long again, I hope,” 
she said, touched by this new evidence of the care with 
which he had always surrounded her. 

She did not quite realize what words she had used, 
until he had gone. Why had he left so suddenly? Why, 
indeed, Dolly? Ask yourself once again, if you dare 
to risk the answer that your heart strives to make. 



140 


CHAPTER VI. 


“ NO BROTHER NEAR THE THRONE." 

“The brethren seem to have deserted me, lately!" 
laughed Dolly, to herself, and it did, indeed, seem so; 
for although the list had been added to recently by a par- 
ticularly eligible candidate, they had now, almost to a 
man, vanished, after a brief brotherhood, sliding from 
that to a careless friendship that seemed with some of 
them akin to coolness, which affected Dolly to mirth 
rather than regret. “ Of course Dolph does not count as 
a brother, I mean of that kind. His basis is very differ- 
ent," and then she tried to define a little more clearly what 
his status really was just at present — and hers. 

Celia had just remarked “ The decks are all cleared 
now, Dolly !" and she had replied : “ You wanted to add 
4 but no engagement seems likely to follow !’ — you know 
you did, Celia. I am not sure but this repression, and 
extra consideration for my feelings, that you and mother 
have shown lately, is really worse than your earlier 
method of championing Dolph’s cause." 

“/ am not sure, but you want us to recommence, Dolly. 
We shall not accommodate you though. You must work 
out your own salvation, now. What a hard and cruel 
fate ! Such suffering, but finally such bliss. I shall give 
you no further points, though, for you don’t deserve 
them," and Celia departed, laughing, leaving her sister to 
work it out by herself as she had said. 

Dolly was so rejoiced to see Celia a little more like her 
old self, that she could have borne much sharper raillery ; 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


for she had begun to be a little worried about her, and to 
fear that Charlie’s anxiety might have some ground. Yes, 
Celia was right. She must work it out by herself ; and 
yet she felt so helpless, sometimes, about it all. 

How clearly and easily these things were solved by 
some. To Celia it had come, for instance, like a revela- 
tion, and the path was all clear before her. She envied 
such insight, such ability to form the decision promptly; 
a characteristic that one would have supposed belonged 
to her own orderly temperament in far greater degree 
than to Celia. Her sister had said, very simply, “ When 
Charlie found he really needed me, I knew it almost as 
soon as he did, and my answer was ready; for his needs 
and mine were so blended that I could not keep them 
apart. How happy it made him when I put it that way ! 
I never once thought whether he would deem my love 
too easily won. I should have been ashamed to harbor 
such an idea, for I do not believe any woman’s love is 
worth much who fears she may be held too 
lightly if she shows her whole heart. She sure- 
ly cannot have much capacity herself for love, or 
any real trust in him if she measures things thus. 
Faith, trust, Dolly is a good part of it, when all is con- 
sidered ; I sometimes think it is the very best part of it. 
I do not know, child, why I talk to you now of these 
things that are so close to my life. They have always 
seemed to belong to Charlie and me, alone, before. ‘ Per- 
haps there is a purpose in it ’ — as our dear old minister 
used to say, when he sought to console some poor, dis- 
tressed, afflicted soul. Not that I mean to say that I 
really think Charlie and I shall never meet again, to talk 
over the strangeness, sweetness of this sacred thing.” 


142 


NO BROTHER NEAR THE THRONE. 


She had concluded slowly, as if thinking aloud ; but Dolly 
felt, with a sudden chill, that Celia had debated the mat- 
ter (if half unconsciously) as a dread possibility. Then 
the thought presented itself with direful force, that the 
words would never have come from the sacred recesses 
of Celia’s soul to her ears, if these lovers, husband and 
wife, had been destined to meet again. Was there a pur- 
pose in these words of faith and love, that had seemed 
impelled by an unseen power ; a purpose involving a sac- 
rifice, that would alone have power to bring her heart to 
Dolph’s keeping? The thought frightened her, for surely 
she did not need the lesson of her sister’s faith and love 
even beyond life itself to show her the way — to Dolph’s 
heart. She felt as if her own heart would break now, at 
the mere thought of what Celia’s death would mean to 
her. Celia, so sweet, true, gentle and brave ! How proud 
she had always been of her, and how strongly she had 
always felt the desire to take care of her, and shield her 
from hard and worldly things ever since Dolly herself 
had grown up. 

“ How ridiculous you and mother, and even Charlie, 
are about me,” her sister had once exclaimed. “ I am not 
sure whether it is really creditable to be considered such 
a very big baby. I am older and I ought to put you down 
Dolly, into your place, I suppose. At any rate I can take 
you up!” and suiting the action to the word, she had ap- 
plied her favorite method when the situation became “ un- 
bearable,” as she said, by catching Dolly up in her arms 
as she used to in her infancy. 

“ It makes you look so undignified and helpless after 
your airs, Dolly, that it is a very sweet revenge.” 

It was a good while now, since Celia had done this, and 


M3 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


how she wished the strength might come again to make 
it possible. No harm to Celia could possibly profit Dolph. 
If it were so she could fairly hate him — but yet could 
she, in any event hate him ? 

No, she knew she could not; and just then a strange 
thing happened, that made her cheek very pale at first, 
and brought a great tightening about her heart; but the 
next moment caused a wonderful joy to thrill her through 
and through. “ I love him her heart had said, “ I have 
always loved him. Why have I not known it before, and 
why is he not here that I may tell him all that he has the 
right to know ?” 

The deeper this solemn joy, the greater became her 
wish to console him with her wealth of love for his long 
and faithful waiting. If it was hard for her to hold it 
from him in this her first knowledge, what must the poor 
fellow have suffered? 

What a blessed thing had come to her, and how quickly, 
how strangely! Wonderland, indeed! Was it Dolph, 
her Dolph, who had once used the word ? What matter 
how or when this sweet knowledge, the fact re- 
mained, and how it would brighten Dolph’s life to know 
it. How she would bless his life and her own with it, for 
as Celia had said, such love was “ blended,” that was the 
right word. Celia was a darling, in this as in everything 
else, and no sacrifice of that life should be involved in 
teaching her a lesson now so thoroughly learned. How 
much she had to make up to Dolph, whom she had been 
starving until now — at the very door of her heart, too ! 
The prophecy that she had made to her mother once, had 
now come true, for the master passion having fairly over- 
taken her she had it all the more strongly. There were 


1 44 


NO BROTHER NEAR THE THRONE. 

many things that might need explanation as to how she 
had arrived at her present £tate, but she would not reason 
or argue, a la Mr. Rivers. “ A great fact stares you in 
the face, Dolly, and you stand before it, blushing as is 
proper, but a strange delight in your heart. It is a won- 
der past comprehension or computation. You are very 
deeply and thankfully in love at last” She murmured 
the last words devoutly as a great wave of feeling swept 
across her spirit in the solemnity of this change to her 
life. She prayed with tearful eyes for God’s loving care 
over Celia, and Dolph, and other dear ones, but these two 
were specially on her mind, though she could not know 
how much they were to stand in need of help ere long. 
A little later came the thought of how she should let 
Dolph know of this sudden change in her feelings. “ For 
it is so different from that other kind, and I was right to 
refuse the dear fellow what he so much desired until I 
could give him this that I have now in such abundance, 
and which I am getting used to so slowly. I wonder if 
I shall ever really get used to it — and whether I want 
to. I never told Dolph in so many words that I would 
serve a notice of any change, but it is his due, I am sure. 
He does not seem in any hurry to renew his efforts, al- 
though I know he must find it very hard to keep to the 
regimen I prescribed. He could quote at me now ‘ Physi- 
cian, heal thyself/ How wise I thought I was, and how 
little I knew what I was talking about ! 

“ ‘ Foolishness is not quite the word,’ poor Dolph said, 
at the first of it ; and I think it hurt him a little to hear 
me talking such folly. A good deal has happened since 
then, and how suddenly he left at our last meeting.” 


i45 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


She had asked herself “ why ?” at that time. Could 
she answer it now ; and what was it she had said to him ? 
She remembered the words. “ You will not be gone from 
me so long, again, I hope ” — referring to his recent ab- 
sence. The words might have meant so much, but he 
could not hope for anything more than a friendly wish 
from her use of them. Sweet to the ear, tantalizingly so 
— but that was all. Perhaps he was wondering now 
whether she would ever be able to say them in the fullness 
of meaning that he so desired. 

Suppose she should write him a brief note addressed 
to his office in New York — something mysterious or 
electric. If mysterious it might be in formal fashion, 
something like this: 

If Mr. Rogers will call upon Miss Dalrymple, at his 
earliest convenience, he will hear of something to his ad- 
vantage. 

Or in a different style, as follows: 

Dear Brother : 

If you have no other engagement, could you make it 
convenient to call at the arbor tomorrow, between three 
and four? 

Your sister, Dolly. 

Or dropping the brother, entirely: 

Dear Dolph : 

Come and see me tomorrow, between three and four. 
I want to tell you all about a new engagement ! 

Dolly. 

But these were all deemed too trifling, in so serious a 
matter as thi® and Dolly decided that she would rather 


146 


NO BROTHER NEAR THE THRONE. 


be electric, as for instance what she now wrote out with 
swimming eyes: 

My Dearest Dolph : 

Come. I need you, at last! 

Your own Dolly. 

Or this would do: 

My Darling: 

I love you so ! Come and let me try to tell you about it. 

Your own Dolly. 

“ I do not think I can improve upon the signature. 
‘ Your own Dolly,’ will be as satisfying as anything else 
could be at such a time, I know, because I like the sound 
of ‘Your own Dolph,’ so well ; for he is mine, forever- 
more ! 

“ I declare ! I have written all these forms upon a sheet 
of fools’ cap paper, as if in confirmation of my original 
idea that all such things were foolishness. I will keep 
them just as they are, and show them to Dolph when he 
comes tomorrow, which he is sure to do, anyway. There 
is no need of writing, for one look into my eyes will tell 
him that my heart is wholly his. 

“ How happy it will make him, and how happy and 
thankful I am, for the blessing of his love !” 

Her eyes filled again, for there was a strange forebod- 
ing of something to come, indefinable, and unreasonable 
as she assured herself ; hoping that it was no more than 
the wonder (which had its pensive side), and the long- 
ing to have Dolph’s arms around her so that she could 
feel it was true. 

There came then a foolish dread as she called it of fur- 
ther separation, that she knew must be absurd. 


H7 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


On returning to the house she found that a letter had 
that minute arrived, by special delivery, and she took it 
to her room in some trepidation at its coming so closely 
upon her last uneasy thought; for she knew at a glance 
that it was from Dolph. It read as follows : 

Dearest Dolly: 

Charlie is sick at Memphis as you will see by enclosed 
telegram, which will best explain itself. Go to your sis- 
ter as soon as possible and tell her in your own way. 
There is just time for me to catch the express South. 
Celia will know that I shall do all I can for Charlie. 

Your loving Dolph. 

The telegram that had fluttered to the floor was still 
briefer, and addressed to Dolph at New York. 

“ Hurlburt ill ; yellow fever. Hope light case. Best 
care. Says wife must not come. 

Hall, physician.” 

Dolly’s heart had stopped beating, or it seemed so to 
her, as she read, and the dread import dawned upon her. 
She felt bewildered at this sudden stroke just when she 
was the happiest; and then as the full burden of grief 
bore upon her, it seemed overwhelming. The thought 
that quick action was necessary for her sister’s sake, 
steadied her to perform the duty nearest. 

How much had flashed through her consciousness in 
the brief interval before she was in the street hurrying 
on her errand to her sister. Charlie’s life in danger as 
might well be feared, while he planned to save Celia’s 
strength, though it cut him off from the last look into 
her loving eyes. — Dolph hurrying into a conflict with 


148 


NO BROTHER NEAR THE THRONE. 

death itself to save Charlie, for Celia’s sake and her own 
through Celia — she saw it all, clearly. He had brushed 
aside the brotherly tone as he started into this peril, and 
addressed her as “ Dearest Dolly,” signing himself “Your 
loving Dolph.” There was nothing of love between, only 
plain duty in those lines, but he felt that for once, if never 
again in life, he must use the terms of endearment that 
filled his heart. If he could only have known that she 
was his utterly and forever, how it would have stayed 
and strengthened him upon his journey! But this could 
not be now, for communication would be cut off from his 
place by Charlie’s bedside. The yellow telegram con- 
nected itself in a strange, illogical way with the dread 
scourge it had announced, and she felt how unnerved she 
was to be affected by so childish a comparison, as she 
placed it inside the letter with a shudder of dread. 

She steadied herself again, as she remembered that 
her present duty was to console and sustain her sister. 

Celia’s face was very pale as Dolly finished her sad 
message, but beyond one quick sob and tremor, she 
showed great composure; and asked presently to see the 
telegram. 

Dolly handed the letter with it and as Celia gave them 
back to her, she said : “ Dolph was very good to do this 
for Charlie and me — and I am sure you were in his mind 
too ; but it is a great risk for him, I fear.” Seeing some- 
thing of the distress that Dolly strove to conceal, she 
turned quickly to her and added : “ He will come back 
to you my dear. I am sure of it.” 

Then, strangely enough, it was Celia who became her 
comforter, divining all, apparently, as she took Dolly in 
her arms. “ You love him now, I see it in your eyes. It 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


is hard, I know, to have found your heart, without power 
to comfort him with your love. Do not fear, dear, for I 
believe it has gone out already to help and sustain him, 
and it will bind you closer and closer to the end — which 
is but the beginning, after all.” 

She pondered a few moments and then said very gently, 
as she pressed the sobbing girl to her heart, “ I shall 
never see Charlie again, in this world, but Dolly, dear, 
think what he and I have been to each other, and how 
soon we shall meet above, never to be parted more. I am 
afraid he has worried about me, and that it may have told 
upon his strength and spirits. I feel as if we shall die 
not so far apart, and it is better that I tell you this now 
so that we may have an understanding, and thus be able 
to help father and mother. They must find us both as 
calm as possible. 

“ One thing more — about Dolph. Tell him how deeply 
I felt his goodness in my hour of greatest need, give him 
my love and tell him of my joy in hearing that your 
hearts were united at last.” 

Another tremor went through her frame as she fin- 
ished, her arms relaxed their hold of Dolly, and she would 
have fallen had not her sister supported her head on the 
sofa. Although she had but fainted, it seemed like the 
coming of death for a brief time, as Dolly used all the 
resources known to her to revive the prostrate figure, so 
white and still there. Celia was just commencing to 
arouse as her father and mother came in. 

They were shocked to hear of Charlie’s illness, but 
much relieved to know that Dolph was already far on his 
way toward Memphis; and their solicitude now turned 
toward Celia’s condition. She seemed to rally so well 


NO BROTHER NEAR THE THRONE. 

and was so composed if not cheerful, that her parents 
left Dolly to be her companion for the night, feeling quite 
reassured over her condition. After seeing Celia to bed 
at an early hour, and peeping in later to find her sleeping 
quietly as a child, apparently, Dolly went to her own 
room, adjoining, but not to find rest there, as she well 
knew. There was so much that must be thought out be- 
fore morning. 

Celia’s case had come to such a serious pass, and she 
seemed able to do so little to help her. That was the hardest 
part of it, this helplessness, and the weary waiting until 
the worst should be known about poor Charlie, and Dolph 
also, perhaps, for he must run a fearful risk as she re- 
membered again, with a shudder of dread for her loved 
one. 

How brave a thing it had been to go, and how proud 
she was of him, while her heart was aching so sorely with 
its ever-increasing longing to be close beside him to com- 
fort with the love he knew nothing of as yet. Yet Celia 
believed that he did feel an assurance of her 
deathless love, and she would remember the word, 
for it certainly was a deathless passion with her, 
and she must be brave like Dolph, even if he 
was brought to those dread portals — in his duty 
to others. To wait in what patience she could command, 
to help Celia in all ways she could, and to pray for the 
safety of the absent ones seemed all that lay before her 
now. “ If I could only have seen him just for a moment 
before he went, and put my arms about his neck, while 
I whispered the word he has so needed. It would have 
been such a blessed thing for both of us/’ she thought 
with a sob. She realized, at last, that beneath all this, 


DOLPH and dollV. 


there was a deep thankfulness for a joy that had beet! 
placed in her heart so great as to cast out fear. It had 
been given her in mercy to support griefs that might have 
overwhelmed her. With this thought sustaining her, she 
finally found the repose she so much needed, waking but 
once when a dream made Dolph’s arms very close about 
her. 



-152 


CHAPTER VII. 


“ For he today that sheds his blood with me, 
shall be my brother/’ 

Dolph was not one to shirk a clear duty, and he had 
not hesitated a moment in his decision to go at once to 
Charlie’s aid; although he did not underestimate the real 
danger of so doing. Ned Wright, the bravest man he 
had ever met, once said, in defining his idea of real 
courage; that to his mind the word meant something 
higher than fearlessness. “ A man may be constitution- 
ally fearless under almost any conceivable circumstance, 
and yet not possess the highest type of courage. It seems 
to me, that man is the bravest who does count the cost, 
and, realizing the full risk, calmly takes it. Perhaps the 
best test is not physical conflict, when the blood is stirred, 
with the spirit, to mighty deeds; but the battle with 
disease whether bravely borne in oneself, or in attend- 
ance on others, while every hour is claiming fresh vic- 
tims.” 

Dolph thought of these words as he journeyed on, and 
again as he came to the stricken city itself, from which 
so many were fleeing in terror. 

As he approached Charlie’s bedside he was startled at 
the change in his appearance, notwithstanding that he 
had tried to prepare himself for it on the journey. 

“ This is very good of you, my boy,” said the sufferer, 
feebly extending a wasted hand — “but you should not 
have done it, Dolph. There is too much risk in it.” He 


‘53 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


protested no further, for words were too precious now, 
so near the end. 

“ Give my love to them all when you return, and wire 
Celia from here as soon as my spirit goes. The poor 
child is drooping, failing; I see it in your eyes, and you 
must send the message quickly when I am gone. Use 
these words, Dolph: ‘ Charlie’s last message. Tell my 
darling ; happy forever with her.’ ” 

They proved to be literally his last words, for with this 
effort his spirit seemed to float away, with his hand still 
in Dolph’s grasp. 

Celia had been growing steadily weaker, and she sur- 
vived Charlie but a few days after receiving his message. 
She was prepared for the worst, so the telegram was not 
unexpected; and while her tears flowed unrestrainedly 
she retained otherwise her wonderful composure ; except 
that she seemed troubled that those about her should 
grieve for her departure so sorely. A little before she 
died she said to Dolly : “I would stay if I could, for you 
all, but it seems as if Charlie needs me most, and I need 
him, notwithstanding the love with which I am surround- 
ed here. You would not really detain me if you had the 
power, and happiness will come to you all in time, in 
thinking of mine; and that I am still near you, as well 
as beside Charlie. In my cleared vision I see much of 
joy that is to be yours, dear child, for you are to have 
Dolph safe again at last ; while father and mother will still 
have you both near them, with grandchildren, too, no 
doubt, in time. Perhaps I should have spoiled them with 
my disorderly ways. Don’t hurt your pretty eyes with 
weeping, Dimple. Is it not strange that the old name 
comes back again? but you won’t mind for this once. 


i54 


HE SHALL BE MY BROTHER. 


Kiss me, Dolly, and a kiss, too, for father and mother, 
and one for Dolph, with my love and deepest gratitude 
for what he has done for Charlie and me. All this that 
I ask of you is like putting away my things for me, as 
you so often had to do when we were children, notwith- 
standing I was older. You remember how it was then, 
and it has been a good deal so ever since. You have 
always been putting the baby’s things away. And now 
the baby is a little tired, but happy, Dolly — do not forget 
that; only tired for Charlie’s arms about me, and they 
seem so near — with God’s love over all, a sure blessing 
to his children.” 

She passed quietly away soon after she had uttered 
th^se, her last words. 

Dolph did not escape the fever, although the doctor 
never considered his case a desperate one, and conval- 
escence was rapid. As soon as he felt that he could 
speak with certainty of his condition he determined to 
telegraph Dolly, that she might be relieved of any appre- 
hension of evil to him since Charlie’s death. He did not 
forget his promise that in any future separation he would 
see that she had his address, and as that would soon be 
changed the message read as follows : 

“ Slight attack. Nearly recovered. After tenth, ad- 
dress for fortnight, Green Brier, White Sulphur Springs, 
Virginia.” 

Doctor Hall had advised a couple of weeks there, when 
he was able to travel, as the best means of completely re- 
storing his health. 

Dolph had formed a very close friendship with the doc- 
tor, whose brave and unselfish course in hurrying to the 
scene of the scourge early won his admiration. With 


155 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


great skill in the practice of his profession he united a 
care and tender sympathy that cheered and consoled even 
when it could not save. He had been unremitting in his 
attendance upon Charlie, and later Dolph, who would 
always feel that he owed much to his unwearied efforts 
on their behalf. The doctor was getting a little needed 
rest, at last, as the fever had now abated in large decree, 
and he liked to talk with Dolph, the conversation of late 
having become quite confidential. 

“ It is a relief to me, for I begin to realize that a great 
strain has been removed, and to talk with you is one way 
of resting. I have never been given to opening my heart, 
and perhaps that is one reason why I go on so readily 
now that I have found my tongue, with you !” he said, 
with a smile on his worn but strong and handsome face. 
He would not admit that there was any great credit in his 
having come so quickly to Memphis. 

“ I was much in the situation of a briefless barrister, 
for although I think I know my profession pretty well, I 
had made my way very slowly, and in several years of 
practice the financial results were npt encouraging enough 
to make me worry about how I should invest them. 
Plenty of cases, but very few paying ones, and as the few 
opulent patients on my list were in exceedingly robust 
health when I left the North, there was no good excuse 
for me to stay away from here. I cannot say what course 
I should have taken if I had had a lot of promising cases 
on hand just then; I mean those whose promises would 
be good! I did not find, nor expect it, a lucrative prac- 
tice here, but it has been useful in experience, and it is 
best always to follow clear convictions. If good has re- 
sulted to only a few I am well content ; besides,” and here 

156 


HE SHALL BE MY BROTHER. 


he hesitated a moment, “ the greatest good in the world 
to me, has come out of it. Would you like to hear how ?” 
he asked with heightened color. “ It is so hard for me to 
keep from talking to you about her, that it must be right 
for me to tell it. Perhaps the confidence you gave, when 
you feared possible ill to yourself, and entrusted a mes- 
sage to me for a loved one has opened my heart to you in 
this story that touches my life so nearly. You asked me 
recently for some account of experiences that I had 
passed through here, but the sad and pathetic tales would 
not afford the best reflections for a convalescent; so I 
will give you instead something of my own romance. 
Nettie would be willing, I am sure ; in fact, she has said 
as much, for she and I know so much about you and Dolly 
that it is but a fair exchange ; and Nettie thinks it may be 
a good tonic for you at this time. [ have her fast, but you 
are not quite so sure of Dolly, although we have made 
up our minds about it.” 

“ Ah !” exclaimed Dolph, “ it was Nettie, then, who 
flitted in and out so quietly and ministered so gently to 
me in those feverish hours when ” 

“ When you murmured Dolly’s name once or twice, and 
her presence seemed to quiet you. Yes, that same Nettie 
attended you for a brief time, until her presence was re- 
quired in a more serious case ; and now I will tell you all 
about her,” said the doctor as he settled himself back in 
his chair with a sigh of satisfaction at the blessed sense 
of rest that he could at last indulge, and the still more 
blessed thought of his Nettie that he was so sure he held 
fast. 

“ I found her, on my arrival here, nursing her mother 
and brother — all she had in the world. Both were 


DOLPH AND DOLLY, 


snatched from her among the first victims. They had 
been everything to each other, and now she was sudden'} 
left with no near relatives, and almost penniless, owing 
to the recent financial crash of a concern in which her 
father had been interested. She was heart-broken at this 
cruel loss of her dear ones, but roused herself bravely, 
worn out as she was, to help other sufferers, and at the 
same time engage in the dispiriting conflict for a bare 
sustenance. My heart went out to the child (for she is 
but nineteen) thus rudely thrown upon the world, and it 
seemed doubly hard for one who had been always cared 
for so tenderly in the shelter of home. She asked me if 
she might not gain a present living by nursing some of 
my patients ; but as I looked into her tired eyes and saw 
how thin and pale her cheeks had become, I was about to 
refuse. Then it occurred to me that perhaps the best 
thing for her great sorrow was ministering to others' 
woes, and I said yes, that I had a place for her. I gave 
her your case for a day or two, and other light ones, and, 
as I had hoped, the occupation was just what she needed ; 
not to make her forget, but to enable her the better to 
bear her own loss. 

“ She recovered something of her spirits, and a good 
deal of her color, notwithstanding her work, which, as I 
have said, I made as light as possible ; very different from 
what she had performed in her own home. We had seen 
so much of each other by this time that a complete under- 
standing was established regarding our mutual work, and 
incidentally many other things, for she seemed always 
to know and do the right thing, that which helped and 
strengthened me the most; and those were weary days, 
physically, for me, although since I met her my spirit was 


HE SHALL BE MY BROTHER. 

refreshed anew. A few days ago, however, it seemed to 
come over her, all at once, that there was really little left 
for her to do, and the idea may have presented itself that 
I was arranging the work somewhat for her benefit ; for 
she said, rather tremulously and with somewhat height- 
ened color, ‘ I think I have done about all the good I can 
here, Doctor Hall, and that I had better look for some- 
thing else, now, not connected with sickness. It has 
served the double purpose that you intended so far, but 
now that the real danger is over I feel that a change of 
work will be best , and a little shiver went over her with 
the remembrance of her loss, that came back with all its 
force. She controlled herself and said with great feeling, 
* I can never thank you enough for your help, your care 
of me in my deep distress. I want you to know that I 
understand it all. I feared that you might not quite 
know, and before I left I wished to tell you this.’ She 
held out her hand as she turned to depart, and as her eyes 
were lifted a moment to mine they glistened with thettears 
she strove to restrain. I still held her hand, as I said: 

“ 'I cannot spare you, Nettie. Will you not stay with me 
always, close to my heart, darling?' She looked at me 
with startled eyes and pale cheeks, but although her lips 
trembled no answer came from them. 

“ ‘Not from any sense of gratitude/ I added quickly. 
‘ You would not wrong yourself or me in that way ; but 
because you love me. It will make me wonderfully happy 
if you can do it. Is this joy to be mine forever?’ ” 

“ ‘ It will be my best happiness, too,’ she said very gent- 
ly, but it sounded to my inmost heart, as I took her in my 
arms. A little while afterward she said : 


i59 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


“ 1 1 did not quite know what I needed — not quite l until 
your words stirred me so strangely and deeply; but I 
know now, and I think the love must have been waiting 
there for you to speak/ she sighed in a great content that 
she must have known I would feel and exult in. 

“ ‘ I do not know what I should have done, Nettie, if 
you had utterly refused to take my prescription !' I ex- 
claimed as I was leaving her for the night. 

“ ‘ I did not make a very wry face over it, did I ?’ she 
replied ; and then, turning to me more gravely, she said : 

‘ I think this wonderful joy must have come into my life, 
George, not to take the place of the love I have lost, but 
rather as embracing that, too. It is a comfort to think 
that you knew my mother and brother, and their goodness 
to me ’ 

“ Why, here is Nettie, now !” he exclaimed, as she came 
to them, smiling through her blushes. 

“ I wanted to see my charge once more before he leaves 
us for Virginia,” she explained and answering his re- 
proachful look she added — “ Yes, I thought you might 
be here, too, George!” 

“ I have been telling Dolph just a little of what you 
said I might, to ease his own mind, and mine. You said 
the prescription might do him good, and I wonder if it 
would not do Dolly good too, if we should let him con- 
fide the story to her?” 

“ He will have to be the judge of that,” she laughingly 
responded — “ but you can say to her from me that I rec- 
ommend the doctor’s prescriptions without any reserve 
whatever,” and she looked a daring invitation toward him 
that she knew he could not accept then; but which she 
would have to pay for later, with interest. Both men 


HE SHALL BE MY BROTHER. 

looked at the young girl’s fair, sweet face with admira- 
tion; and one, as he blessed her for the love with which 
she had dowered him, felt a profound relief, as he saw 
the fullness coming back to her cheeks, with the new 
light in her eyes, that had so long been filled with sadness. 
When Dolph bade goodbye to the happy pair he made 
the doctor promise to inquire into the matter of old Doc- 
tor Greene’s practice at Inglefield, for he had heard that 
it was to be sold if the right kind of a customer appeared, 
one who suited with his crotchets. 

“ I should like to have you both near us, and that would 
ensure it.” 

“ And I should so like to see Dolly !” said Nettie as 
they shook hands, in parting. 

The journey to White Sulphur Springs was made very 
comfortably, showing that he had recovered much of his 
strength, and there was already that buoyant, exultant 
feeling, which comes with returning health. The sky had 
never looked so blue, nor the grass and foliage so green, 
and fresh, and restful; while the mountain air seemed 
to invigorate his whole frame with every deep breath that 
was taken. He revelled in its delightful freshness and 
purity. The caroling of a sweet songster near where he 
had stopped to rest a moment, was the last touch needed 
to make the pleasure so exquisite as almost to seem a 
pain ; or was it the prophecy of love’s approach, triumph- 
ing over pain and death itself, that lent sweetness to pa- 
thos in the joy he felt at the bird’s cheering notes. 

He had never been so sure before of possessing Dolly’s 
whole heart, and his ached to tell her all, and to comfort 
the poor child in her sore affliction — for something 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


seemed to tell him that Celia had not long survived her 
husband’s death. 

No message was sent to him from Inglefield, for they 
knew he could not leave Memphis at once ; and when the 
telegram came of his own sickness, their anxiety must 
not be suffered to worry him by inquiries, which might 
only retard his complete recovery. 

Here at the Springs, perhaps he might receive a tele- 
gram, or even a letter, from Dolly. How he longed for 
just a word from her! 

The doctor’s advice as to a two weeks’ stay seemed al- 
most like a sentence of imprisonment, when he thought of 
what it would mean to be close beside Dolly again. He 
was nearer, it was true, but still so far away — at least 
he thought so, as he walked his lonesome way, on the 
morning after his arrival. It had been too lovely a morn- 
ing to stay within doors, so he took an early and light 
breakfast, and sallied forth for a short ramble, caring not 
in what direction he went. 



162 


. ^ 



CHAPTER VIII. 


“ Two of us in the churchyard lie, 

My sister and my brother.” 

Dolly has just picked some flowers in the garden, to 
place on Celia’s and Eddie’s graves : when the messen- 
ger boy approached with Dolph’s telegram. 

She had been sadly worried in the long days since re- 
ceiving any news from him ; fearing the possibility of his 
own illness — he who had so bravely gone forth for 
others’ good, the man she loved above all else, as her 
heart was ever telling her in sweet refrain. If she could 
have seen clearly that a message of her love would help 
him, there would not have been a moment’s hesitation in 
sending it. 

But if he was well and strong he must soon be near 
her; and if ill she could not be sure that the precious 
word from her would hold him to earth. Might not the 
sudden joy loosen his grasp, possibly ? She had been puz- 
zled how to act, and often sorely depressed; and then 
Celia’s words of comfort, and of faith in his return, would 
come as a refuge and stay. 

Prayers for his safety were seemingly all she had 
power to give in aid of Dolph’s possible extremity; and 
her sister’s favorite passage from the Bible came often to 
her mind — “A very present help in trouble.” 

Dolly’s cheeks had lost something of their roundness 
lately, and her eyes seemed to her mother’s anxious gaze 

*63 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


to show often a pathos strangely in contrast to the merry 
dancing light that had been there until the recent tragic 
events in their home circle. As she opened the envelope 
with trembling fingers and fast beating heart the word 
“ attack ” stood out sharply from the rest, clutching 
closely around her heart. 

She gave a profound sigh of relief and an inward 
prayer of thankfulness as the full import of the message 
came to her a moment later. The fever that she had so 
dreaded was happily a thing of the past, as seen in the 
blessed words — “nearly recovered.” And he was almost 
well enough to travel; perhaps already on his way, by 
easy stages. 

She would not, therefore, telegraph what was in her 
heart, but wait and tell him in this very arbor — or, why 
not meet him at the Springs! The thought of his glad 
surprise, and her own joy in such a meeting brought so 
pretty a blush to her cheek and sparkle to her eye, that 
her mother should have seen it to rejoice also, in this 
transformation to the old Dolly once more. She would 
give her precious message to Dolph from her own lips 
while they were close to his, and she safe in his arms, or 
he in hers, if he was still too weak to hold her as closely 
to him as they would both desire. It was all settled in 
her mind, she would go at once — with her parents, of 
course. 

“ It is a clear inspiration and I will luxuriate in it while 
I am elaborating my plan of action. I am sure father and 
mother will help me to carry it out.” 

The flowers must be attended to first of all, a pleasant 
duty, notwithstanding its sadness, for Celia and Eddie 
had both been so fond of flowers. She could see the little 

164 


MY SISTER AND MY BROTHER. 

fellow now, picking them with his small fingers, and ar- 
ranging them gravely, then bedecking her and Dolph, in 
great glee with chains and garlands; or showering them 
with handfuls, until he was tired out. After she had 
placed these offerings upon the graves, she rested on the 
seat that Dolph had made years before, and placed near 
Eddie’s grave under the old oak. The boys had been 
early playmates, and very fond of each other ; and she re- 
membered what Dolph had said once about feeling it 
almost as a disloyalty to Eddie to be classed as another 
brother of hers. There was no question of brothers now, 
for she knew at last the difference in her feeling toward 
these two loved ones ; he whose years on earth had been 
so few, and that other whose heart had longed for hers 
so deeply. Celia had left them so recently that she could 
hardly yet realize it ; for she had passed away very gently 
in perfect hope and serenity, sustaining and strengthen- 
ing them all by her perfect trust in God’s wisdom and 
merciful kindness. The farewell had been like a benedic- 
tion. 

The hour that Dolly spent there was a blessed one, and 
she arose refreshed in spirit, the feeling strong within 
her that Celia’s love had hastened the blending of her own 
with Dolph’s; and that even now she might be near to 
both of them. When Dolly again took up the matter of 
her journey to White Sulphur Springs (with a return of 
that glow in her cheeks) she was not long in elaborating 
a plan. It was in reality a very feasible and sensible 
thing, she was sure ; for her father and mother needed a 
change after their prolonged anxiety about Charlie and 
Celia, and latterly about Dolph ; while she had not failed 


165 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


to see also that they were troubled in regard to her pale 
cheeks. 

They could be there a day before the tenth, and she 
would have time to pick out a nice sequestered walk, 
which she could show him almost as soon as they met. 
What a surprise it would be to him, when he first saw 
her! What would be said and who would say it — the 
first word ! She hardly knew how to commence all she 
had to say, but the beginning and the end would be much 
the same — that she was sure of. The whole conversa- 
tion would be bounded closely by that wonderful little 
word of four letters that she had hardly known how to 
spell correctly till lately. It was like going to school over 
again — this talk of boundaries and definitions. How 
sadly deficient she had been in geography and spelling — 
until very recently ! She must tell him how ashamed she 
was of such ignorance. As to arithmetic he would not 
care if she could not count quickly enough all the kisses 
he would press upon her lips. 

She felt strangely stirred at this last thought that she 
had allowed herself to indulge, or that had forced itself 
upon her — and she remembered that she had always 
liked addition and multiplication much better than 
subtraction and division. Why could she not have 
seen earlier that this was prophetic of her final 
fate? It might have helped her to a quicker 
solution of a vital matter. All this made her think that 
Class Day was near at hand, and perhaps they could be 
back in time to take part in that prettiest gala day and 
night of the year. How proud she would be to saunter 
about with Dolph under the elms of his Alma Mater ! 

They would not do anything to tire him — just a stroll 


166 


MY SISTER AND MY BROTHER. 


among the trees, to meet a few of his old friends with 
whom he could talk over college days, and she could see 
already the look of exultant pride (that she would be able 
to detect in his eyes, if no one else) when he introduced 
a few of his closest college mates. Then they would at- 
tend the base ball game (which they liked for itself, irre- 
spective of the variable place it held as a fashionable fad) 
and of course one or two of the spreads, but not to stay 
long ; and as much time for the flights of eloquence as 
Dolph chose to give. She would not care so much for 
details as she had before, and after all the pleasantest 
part would be the pretty general effect in the evening 
when all was bright with the myriads of Chinese lan- 
terns festooned among the trees, and they were comforta- 
bly seated, hearing the music, and watching the pretty 
girls pass in their lovely gowns, looking so artlessly and 
sweetly into the eyes of their escorts. She remembered 
how it was done, and was afraid she had quite distracted 
poor Dolph sometimes on these very occasions — for it 
was amazing, when she came to think of it, how much 
a girl could do without really knowing why or how she 
did it, or really what it meant. Of course a good many 
did know it all; and the men generally knew who did 
know and who didn’t ; but for herself she could see now 
that she had been a blessed innocent in those days ; which 
if a little hard on Dolph then, perhaps he would like all 
the better now, when he came to think it all over and felt 
how he had her the more completely at last. She took 
a good deal of comfort in these days (since love had as- 
serted itself in such mighty fashion), in trying to place 
herself in Dolph’s shoes, metaphorically speaking, and 

167 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


picturing to herself his transports, as she graphically ex- 
pressed it at various interesting junctures. 

She laughed to herself presently, as she remembered 
how disappointed Dolph had pretended to be upon tone 
of these festive occasions (the year he graduated) that 
she was not a co-ed. 

“ You know all that, I suppose, about the sustaining, 
ennobling effect through life, upon a friendship between 
men and women who have the common ground of the 
higher education, as a basis upon which so many good 
things can be enjoyed acutely ?” he had said very gravely, 
and she had replied : “ Yes, I have heard it in certain 

quarters, almost ad nauseam (notice the aptness of the 
one classical quotation I am capable of making) and I feel 
acutely the implication that you are cruel enough to in- 
dulge in at my expense. Co-eds, Dolph, and the higher 
education they aspire to are all right in their place, but 
it isn’t the only thing in life; nor the whole of it, this 
knowledge gained within those four walls. It is effective 
according to the person, and this very personality of a 
woman is not affected by it. If she has the beneficent 
qualities that belong to the best womanhood the college 
education is but an accident, and affects her no more 
than that. The real effect of a collegiate course on our 
women is vastly overestimated — that is the good effect. 
Put that in your pipe and smoke it, at the class supper 
tonight!” she concluded. 

“ I will,” he said, much amused, and she fancied pleased 
at her “thesis,” as he called it. ! 

All this had been between the dances at the “ Gym ” — 
and was “ the more instructive and forcible, among such 


168 


MY SISTER AND MY BROTHER. 


frivolous surroundings,” as he told her, just as they 
started in another waltz. 

How Dolly’s thoughts had run on in her happy frame 
of mind, since Dolph’s reassuring telegram was clearly 
before her mind. 

Now to proceed with her plans. They would not have 
to hurry about starting, for the tenth would not be here 
for a week, yet ; but she had better mention the matter at 
once to her parents, so that they might get used to the 
idea. 

How impatient she was for the days to pass. They had 
better be at the Springs by the evening of the eighth, at 
the very latest. 

Mr. and Mrs. Dalrymple were heartily in accord with 
Dolly’s plan, and her father said : “ It will do us all 
good ; your mother and me as well as you, who I am sure 
need a change, although you are looking better today 
than for a long time past. We owe so much to Dolph, 
that it is only right we should take charge of him from 
there home. It is a very bright idea of yours, Dolly, and 
reflects real credit on her, does it not, Mary ?” he asked his 
wife, looking quickly at her with a smile, quite unper- 
ceived by his daughter. 

His wife assented in another quick glance that showed 
her recognition of all his remark might imply; and then 
kissed her daughter without comment in words to her; 
for which Dolly thanked her with a little hug that might 
mean gratitude merely at the fulfillment of a wish for 
change in travel, or vastly more, as Mrs. Dalrymple re- 
flected. The next few days were full of preparation for 
the eventful journey, or things intimately connected with 
it. The evening before they started, as Dolly was pass- 
169 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


ing Doctor Greene’s office, he called her name, asking her 
to come in a moment if she had the time. 

“ You are looking as fine as a fiddle,” he said, survey- 
ing her approvingly, and then continued in characteristic 
fashion : “ I was expecting an interesting case in you, 

and had already compounded a specially bitter mixture 
for you to take once an hour as a tonic; when here you 
are with the roses back in your cheeks again, preparing 
to leave me for * Ole Virginny ’ without so much as a 
goodbye. You might have done that, at least, after rob- 
bing me of my rightful fees. How do you suppose doc- 
tors are to live when they are treated in this way ?” Dolly 
knew the doctor of old, and how much kindness lay be- 
neath the crusty manner that he sometimes assumed. She 
put on a penitent air, at first, as she replied — “I had you 
on my mind, and should have called before the evening 
was over; but I am so glad I escaped that horrid mix- 
ture.” 

She well knew that he never gave any medicine he 
could help, although his threats were sometimes direful. 

“ It is too bad that you should lose an interesting case 
in me ; if you can bear to speak in so unfeeling a way — 
as if I was chiefly valuable to experiment on — in the 
interest of science, I suppose. As to fees, the trouble 
is that you will not collect them after they are earned, 
if you have the faintest idea any one will be distressed in 
paying. You know it is so.” 

“ I know,” he replied, with a grim smile, in spite of 
himself, “ how audaciously and outrageously you attempt 
to humbug me at every opportunity, and I am going to 
try to get even with you for once, by making you useful. 
Will you be good enough to read this scrawl with your 


MY SISTER AND MY BROTHER. 

young eyes? Perhaps I can gather the meaning better, 
then.” 

Dolly took the letter, which was very legibly written in 
spite of what the doctor had said; and started in some 
alarm, at the Memphis heading. “ Do not be frightened,” 
he said, gently, remembering her recent trials; “the let- 
ter is from a brother physician, and has been thoroughly 
fumigated. Now let us see what the young fellow is 
driving at.” 

Dolly read as follows: 

Doctor Greene: 

Dear Sir: I hear from our mutual friend, Mr. Adol- 
phus Rogers, of your town, that you contemplate a sale 
of your practice ; and he has advised me to communicate 
with you, having formed an opinion that is perhaps too 
flattering as to my competency, and also as to my desira- 
bility for a neighbor. I write in a preliminary way, to ask 
how much you wish in cash for the good will, and for the 
rent of the office, which I understand is detached from 
the house. Could the house also be rented? 

I am told that you have another at the end of the vil- 
lage, to which you have proposed to retire whenever you 
gave up your practice. 

I am about to take on some new responsibilities that 
will require the purchase or lease of a house. It would 
have to be a lease for the present, as my practice, al- 
though extensive and varied has not yet made me rich. 
If you will kindly advise me at once on points named, 
and anything else that may occur to you, I will see you 
personally as to my qualifications etc., if I can entertain 
your propositions. The “ responsibility ” mentioned by 
me, is Miss Nettie Moore, to whom I am engaged, and 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


hope soon to marry. She lost her mother and only 
brother in the very first of this scourge, and has since 
been of great service in the care of others, including Mr. 
Rogers, now happily nearly recovered, and about leaving 
for the North. I have advised a fortnight’s rest at White 
Sulphur Springs, Virginia (Green Brier) before he goes 
to his home. Excuse this digression in a business letter, 
but I desire to place myself clearly before you in the rela- 
tion of a possible neighbor, as well as a physician. 

Yours truly, 

George Hall. 

“ He attended Charlie, too, I am sure, for the dispatch 
from him was what hurried Dolph there at first,” said 
Dolly. She was so pleased at this unexpected way of 
hearing from Dolph, and at the reassuring words of his 
own physician, that the happiness shone in her thankful 
eyes; and then as she saw how Doctor Greene had 
planned the glad surprise, she turned toward him with 
much emotion. 

“ It is all right, Dolly. I understand. We are both glad 
Dolph is on the right road again ; and we will see that he 
keeps there, won’t we?” he added, as if he and Dolly were 
in a mysterious compact for his good to keep him from 
further wandering. 

“ Now what shall we do about Doctor Hall and his 
Nettie? I can see, in half a glance, that you and Dolph 
are all ready to put this youngster in and turn me out. 
Think of it, Dolly! I, who brought you into the world, 
and your mother before you, and had expected — but 
never mind that now. Let me understand it clearly ; you 
would turn your old friend out of house and home for 
the benefit of utter strangers — people that you have 


172 


MY SISTER AND MY BROTHER. 

never even seen. Monstrous ! I do not believe the case 
can be paralleled. There is an old song that goes some- 
thing like this — 

‘ There’s a little white cottage, where the trees are ever 
green, 

And the climbing roses blossom by the door ; 

Where I’ve often sat and listened to the music of the 
birds, 

And the charming voice of gentle Nettie Moore.’ 

“All very pretty and idyllic, but where do I come in ? I 
am not in it; but thrust out that these two may bill and 
coo in my cottage.” 

Dolly laughed just as the doctor had expected she 
would, and as he looked reproachfully at her, she said: 
“ I will learn that song and sing it to you, if you will 
make reasonable terms with Doctor Hall, and then move 
quietly out for him and his pretty bride. I know she is 
pretty and nice.” 

“ Well ! of all cold-blooded, hard-hearted and ” 

commenced the doctor with a great show of indignation, 
but Dolly put her hand lightly over his mouth, and said : 
“ Please let me finish. I was about to add that as you 
were thinking anyway of going back to the old home- 
stead, and as that would bring you quite close to us — ” 

“ Hold on ! Hold on !” exclaimed the doctor, apparently 
much mystified. “ Who is ‘ us ? y Your father does not 
live at that end of the village, certainly. This needs ex- 
planation,” he continued in high glee at the turn affairs 
had taken — but Dolly, covered with confusion, eluded 
him, calling back a “ goodbye ! ” as she ran out, and 
wafting him a final adieu or a kiss — “ Something saucy,” 
he growled; and then he blessed her, as the brightest, 


i73 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


cheeriest being that had come near his life since his 
Annie passed out of it years ago, leaving him desolate — 
so desolate and stricken. 

“ ‘ Us !’ What a ‘ break/ as the young ones call it. The 
only ‘ us ’ that I know of is the home close by my old 
homestead, which was left Dolph by Mr. Fernell’s will. 
Dolly is counting her chickens early. I will tell Dolph, 
sometime, that she had this all arranged in her own mind, 
before she had even accepted him, though of course I 
can’t be sure of that last part. As to this young fellow at 
Memphis, I suppose I shall end by giving him a chance 
and pleasing them all. He can have the practice, office, 
house and my good will, if I take a fancy to him, and 
without much money passing either. I will write a letter 
which will bring him here fast enough.” 

Dolly laughed more on the way home than she had be- 
fore for weeks, notwithstanding she had completely 
trapped herself, and was now in the doctor’s power for- 
ever; subject to merciless raillery on her return with 
Dolph. The best, or worst of it was, however, that she 
did not care. She was not afraid that it would go beyond 
him, and he had been so good about letting her see the 
letter for the comfort she might gain from it, that she 
was more than half glad she made the slip, that gave him 
such keen enjoyment. 

It was assured not to say presuming, to talk about ‘ us ’ 
at this juncture of affairs, when Dolph was not even an 
accepted lover — save in her own heart. It was high time 
she advanced upon the enemy and made sure of his cap- 
ture. Of course not a real enemy, although he had har- 
rassed her at first in his vigorous siege. How quickly 
she would open the gates now, without a parley even* 


MY SISTER AND MY BROTHER. 


But things had turned about, and she must carry the 
war into his country, and “ invest the enemy’s works,” if 
that was the right term. “ Unconditional surrender ” 
were the only terms she would give! Dolly enjoyed 
every stage of the journey as if she had never travelled 
before in her life; although it was hard for her to re- 
strain her impatience to get to the end of it. 

Mr. and Mrs. Dalrymple were overjoyed at the change 
wrought in her looks and spirits since Dolph’s telegram 
had come; and now that they were actually moving 
toward him she seemed like her old self. They grew 
younger themselves in watching her, and something of 
the sadness that had clouded their lives since Celia’s 
death, gradually gave way to more cheerful views as they 
thought of her happy and peaceful end, and how her faith 
had been justified in the final union of Dolph and Dolly, 
which seemed assured now. 

On arrival at the Springs, Dolly devoted the first day 
to exploration of near-by walks, making some judicious 
selections, that she hoped soon to get Dolph’s judgment 
upon. They were quite sequestered. There was one 
other that she left for the next morning, determining to 
explore it at an early hour, though her ideas were not 
extreme in defining that term. 

She went to her bed well tired, but wonderfully 
happy in the thought that perhaps on the very next day 
she would see Dolph — her darling, but who had not yet 
heard her use the term, to which she was getting so ac- 
customed, that it came very easy now. Could she use it 
as bravely when he was by her side? She would like 
to try. 


i75 




* %• 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


It was a little later than she meant it to be when her 
sleepy, happy eyes, closed in slumber, and as a result she 
did not arise quite so early as planned; although there 
was still a delightful freshness in the air, and her blood 
tingled with the glory of just breathing it in, and the 
thought of a loved one that she might surprise before the 
day was out, with her unheralded, unexpected presence. 


CHAPTER IX. 


“A Brother to Reueve, How Exquisite 
the Bliss ! ” 

Whether it is always true that “ great minds think 
alike,” may be doubted; but lovers' minds often follow 
pretty closely the hearts that beat so fondly, and perhaps 
that is why Dolph, too, had determined on an early morn- 
ing walk. He had been longing so for her dear presence, 
and wondering if he could wait even in this beautiful 
country for the fourteen days prescribed; that he may 
have unconsciously been led toward the very seat she oc- 
cupied, after making her last preliminary exploration. 
Yes, there she was before his very eyes, “ a picture of 
youth,” indeed, for him to feast his gaze upon, almost 
breathlessly, while he — — - 

“ A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, seeing shall 
take heart again.” Not that he had ever ad- 
mitted the sufficiency of her brotherly theory, nor be- 
lieved himself utterly shipwrecked, but he had been for- 
lorn at times, in spite of his undying faith — and now he 
knew he should take her to his heart in a moment. 

Only that moment had elapsed in the pause before she 
lifted her eyes to his in sudden recognition of the ap- 
proaching step ; but how his thoughts had flown ahead, as 
he took in the whole delightful scene, the fair young 
girl, resting on the seat, with a smile hovering around her 
lips, of happiness presaged — not quite present — but it 
.was as if she waited for its nearer approach. 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


And now it was here at last. She had seen him, and 
risen to welcome her loved one; but words would not 
come to either at first — only that welcome in her eyes. 
How it spoke to him and thrilled to his very heart, and 
how close he folded her, as if he would never let her go 
from him. 

When the words came they were from him first: 
“ Blessing of my life, my own at last ! I knew it from 
your eyes, but let me hear you say it just once, Dolly.” 

“ If I commence I may never stop,” she said, “ but I 
will be that — a blessing to you, ever more darling ; and 
Dolph, dear, I have always been yours, although the 
sweet knowledge of it was delayed — just a little,” she 
added, smiling through her tears of joy. 

| “ While I am trying to make this all a reality, tell me 

how you came to be here, and what caused that happy 
smile that I saw around your lips in the moment before 
you saw me.” 

“ As to the first part,” she answered, “ I came because I 
had to. I came, I saw, that I might be conquered ; or rather 
being already conquered, I came as your willing captive, 
expecting to surprise you, whereas you were first, as 
usual. Isn’t it hard to keep away, when you feel so? 
Yes, sot” she added as he hungrily clasped her close once 
more. “ You knew all about it, of course, long ago, but 
it was new to me, until you took your vacation. I com- 
menced to realize it then, but when your telegram came, 
just as you were departing that second time, how my 
heart ached and longed for you ! Since then it has been 
at times almost more than I could bear, that longing and 
the fear for your safety. If it had not been for Celia — ” 
but she could go no further. 

178 


A BROTHER TO RELIEVE. 


“ Did she follow Charlie, so soon, then ? ” he asked 
. j. ily as lie soothed the weeping girl. 

“ Yes/’ she replied presently, “ and she left her love and 
a kiss for you, Dolph,” restraining her agitation as she 
remembered that his health might not be quite restored. 
“It will always seem to me as if Celia had much to do with 
showing that my heart was yours. The love was there, 
and would have come to you finally, but she had a part 
in it, I am sure, just then.” 

They were silent for a time, and then Dolly spoke again 
striving to put aside the sorrow, as Celia would have 
wished, for Dolph had come recently from so much sad- 
ness. 

“ As to the second part of your question, about that 
happy smile, of course the undercurrent of it all was the 
sweet, ever recurring thought of soon meeting you, al- 
though I could not dream that it would be so very soon. 

“I had been wondering, just how, and when, and where 
the meeting would come about, and what it would be like 
to have your arms actually around me, and what I should 
read in your eyes and you in mine. We know now, dear, 
and it is so much better, all of it, than I could possibly 
imagine. 

“ But part of that smile was from the sudden remem- 
brance of a youthful attempt of mine to make such a 
scene real ! I had read of such things, and supposed, 
therefore, that they must be, and I constructed a little plot 
of my own that I fear was not very original, and perhaps 
you do not really care to hear of the crude imaginings of 
fifteen?” 


179 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


“ Don't I, though ! providing you will intersperse 
with ” 

“ Bread and cheese, and kisses ?” she asked, with a 
merry laugh that echoed through the corridors of his 
heart in its delicious music, as he told her. 

“ Never mind, Dolly, today, whether figures of speech 
are correct. You know what I mean !” 

“ Yes, I know everything, now,” she said, “ though I 
want you to keep on telling it over and over, in a way 
that it won’t tire you to repeat; but, really, I did bring, 
besides the kisses, something edible, though not so indi- 
gestible for an invalid as cheese. Well, semi- invalid, 
then, if you won’t admit more. We will have a light 
lunch while I am telling you the plot, for all well- 
regulated lovers are hungry, when things are once settled 
satisfactorily. I am satisfactory, I hope — up to your 
greatest anticipations, wildest dreams, fondest hopes? 
You are, let me hasten to add; Why Dolph, if you 
devour me, you can’t do justice to my pretty little lunch! 
Where was I in my narrative?” she asked, with an inno- 
cent perplexity, that he did not try to help, for he was just 
drinking it all in, and trying to make it a little bit more 
real, as he told her. 

“ I have to keep talking myself,” she retorted, 
“ to avoid the intoxicating effects of similar 
draughts. Now the plot, Dolph, was like this: The 
young man — oh, so handsome, such eyes, such a manner 
(quite indescribable, I assure you), meets the young lady, 
or rather, mere girl, for I remember I had her just bud- 
ding into womanhood — of exquisite form, golden hair, 
lustrous eyes of blue, gleaming like stars, etc., ■ — he meets 
her on the seashore, at the foot of a great cliff, of the 

180 


A BROTHER TO RELIEVE. 


* beetling ’ variety, remember, for I was particular about 
that word. My description was minute, even to what they 
wore, for although I threw in something about his think- 
ing her a mermaid, ‘ as the vision of loveliness first burst 
upon his enraptured gaze/ of course I had to be decorous 
as to both clothes and language, not being as yet aware of 
the license that the modern novelist gives him- or herself. 
As he came around a jutting rock he was spellbound at 
such beauty for a moment, and then it seemed as if he had 
met her — just a thousand years before. No more, no 
less ! This was my original thought, though I have seen 
it used since by others. In conversation, a little later, she 
allowed (so blushingly and in such a charming, half-re- 
luctance) that the same thought had come to her regard- 
ing that former meeting, dates agreeing exactly. But 
now, as a larger wave than usual came thundering in, 
answered by the reverberation of distant thunder from 
the darkened firmament (notice, please, the happy con- 
junction of sounds), Gerald (that was his name) awoke 
to his duty/ You must not understand that he had 
actually been asleep. It was his conscience, or something 
uncomfortable within him, that had found a brief repose. 

‘ The tide has cut us off, we are embayed, perchance to 
be engulfed, destroyed, Evelina!’ he exclaimed, hoarse- 
ly. He had not used her name till then, and even at that 
moment of dire peril it was a vast comfort to him. No- 
tice what a delicate touch in that idea, Dolph! Evelina 
gave him a look of trust, of deepest love, that he 
never forgot, as she said, in a spirit of sweet but collected 
resignation, ‘ We can at least die together, Gerald,’ for at 
such time I had heard coyness has no place. ‘ It shall not 
be, if my strong right arm can avail !’ shouted the aroused 

1S1 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


Gerald, and he used both his arms to such good effect 
that a few moments later he had half carried, half helped 
the clinging Evelina to a place of safety above the 
hungry, seething waves, that his eagle eye had discovered 
at the last moment. I have hurried this up a little, Dolph, 
and am going to leave them there now until the tide goes 
out, for I want to get at the result to you of all this.” 

“ What have I to do with it ?” exclaimed he, “ surely 
you are not Evelina, changed in your cradle and 
brought up by supposed parents, and I know I am not 
Gerald, although I will admit I may have met you a 
thousand years ago.” 

“ No,” she said, laughing heartily, and with a wonder- 
fully thankful feeling beneath all, as she saw the color 
in his cheek and light in his eye that betokened a stronger 
hold of life from the moment he had met her. “No, that 
was not it. We are Dolph and Dolly still. But you see 
that little plot of mine, although I considered it an excel- 
lently drawn romance, did not stir me as I had always 
understood such things should, and really tried to make it. 
Of course I know now why it did not, for you were satis- 
fying all my needs, most comfortably and naturally. Your 
thoughts, aspirations, desires, I knew almost as well as 
you did yourself, and all my sympathies, I think my very 
life, was in your hands, dear,” she said, smiling at first, 
but simply taking his hand as she finished, and looked into 
his eyes to see that he understood it all. “ So, you see, 
Dolph,” she added, presently, “ I got the foolish idea 
my head quite early that it was not in me to love ; 
girls did, Evelina, for instance, and I wanted 
no more about it, but just have you by me, of an. 
as a brother, and let everything rest comfortably as it was. 


162 


A BROTHER TO RELIEVE. 


The trouble was that you were not comfortable, and not 
to be satisfied until you had made me as uncomfortable 
as yourself ! How could you do it, Dolph ? Think of the 
responsibility you have taken upon yourself.” 

“ Yes, let me take it some more !” he replied, relevant- 
ly, or irrelevantly, as she might choose to think it, while 
he held her to him again. 

When they were strolling on, a little afterward, 
he said : “ What a fine vista effect down this path ; 

though everything looks delightful today, doesn’t it, 
Dolly?” 

“Yes, everything,” she said with a deep breath of con- 
tentment. “ Do you remember that little love story run- 
ning through the ‘ Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,’ and 
how the pretty schoolmistress chose ' the long path ’ ?” 

“ I remember it, and see the application,” he answered. 
“ We have ^started on it for life together, dear. How is 
it that you know these paths so well ? How long have you 
been here?” he asked, presently. 

“ Not much over a day, Dolph, but that day I spent in 
learning them so as to be all ready for you. I had planned 
to lead you to this very spot that you found for yourself, 
after all.” 

“ That was because you were drawing me here, instead 
of leading, that is the only difference, Dolly, and the se- 
lection reflects great credit on you, especially in the se- 
clusion that you secured.” 

“ I was bound to look after that, as the first desider- 
atum,” she answered, and then, as he led her to another 
seat, looked anxiously up at him, as if fearing that the 
resting so soon again might indicate fatigue. 

“ No, I am not tired,” he said in answer to her look, 

183 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


“ but I can talk things over more intimately when we are 
near, in this way.” 

“ What a vocabulary you have !” she exclaimed, after 
recovering her breath. “ ‘Intimately ’ is good, in suiting 
the case, and you are strong, already, certainly.” 

She looked fairly radiant with happiness at this con- 
vincing proof of his returning health, as she admitted, 
softly, through her blushes. 

“ But you must not exert yourself too much — at first,” 
she protested as he showed signs of making further 
proofs. 

“ It is nice that Doctor Hall and Nettie are to live near 
us, isn’t it?” she remarked, a moment later, and laughed 
outright at the open-eyed wonder which he evinced at her 
words. “I must tell you where the joke about ' us 9 
comes in, Dolph,” and then she detailed her conference 
with Doctor Greene, and warned him to be prepared for 
the doctor’s raillery over her slip. “ Oh, there is one 
thing I want to ask you while I think of it.” 

“ Only one, Dolly ?” 

“ One, while I think of it, you know ; and then another, 
and another, and so on.” 

“ Excuse my interrupting you, but while / think of it,” 
he exclaimed, for her lips were invitingly near. 

“ You did not even say, ‘ by your leave.’ ” 

“ I thought I was accepting an invitation.” 

“ Not in words” 

“ Implied, then !” 

“ Well ” 

“ Say ‘ yes,’ quick , Dolly, or I will repeat.” 

“‘Yes, quick,' then, of course; but Dolph, the result 
seems to be the same.” 


184 


A BROTHER TO RELIEVE. 


“ The expected sometimes happens,” he said. 

“ What was I about to ask you ?” she dreamily in- 
quired, as if just waking from a blissful experience, for 
she was enjoying to the utmost this sweet trifling, not 
only for the deliciously new sensation (as she told herself 
quite candidly), but far deeper than that, for she saw 
that Dolph was fairly luxuriating in her presence, that 
her every word was music in his ear, he who had been so 
long denied what he needed so much. She was sure that 
he drew health to heart and soul, and body, too, from 
these things, and the thought made her eyes shine with 
joy, or sometimes bedimmed them in thankfulness for 
God's goodness in this hour of reunion. 

'Was it anything in regard to Lucy?” he inquired, al- 
most too innocently. 

** Yes, it was, but how could you possibly know, unless 
through conviction of guilt. That is it, I am sure. 
Now, upon peril of something awful, tell me whether you 
did or did not use that poor girl’s name to make me feel 
uncomfortable, under the guise of its being for my good, 
an educating process for my affections, etc. — when it was 
really for your own good.” 

“ I did it for the good of both of us,” he confessed, in 
the most brazen way, and Dolly, instead of condemning, 
kissed him impulsively, exclaiming: 

“ I knew I was right. It is so pleasant to have one’s 
impressions confirmed. Now I will lay the cloth for lunch, 
that has been so long delayed since I promised it. Did 
you have any breakfast before you left the hotel, or have 
I been starving you physically, as I did your heart, poor 
boy, in all these years. It is awful to think of, Dolph! 
185 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


Years have been lost because I could not learn that you 
held my heart. ,, 

“ I tried my best to teach you,” he said, shaking his 
head so mournfully that the assumption of woe made her 
laugh out again in the way he liked to hear. “ I often 
sang to myself, ‘ Oh, teach me how to woo thee, love ! ’ ” 

“ Why did you not sing it to me ?” queried Dolly. 
“ Perhaps that would have brought me to — yes, right 
here, earlier,” drawing closer still to him. “ The fact is,” 
she continued (after an assurance that he had taken a 
light breakfast very early, but was hungry again), “ that 
there is no rule about these things, and I am not going 
to make myself miserable by bewailing what I might have 
done, if I had known how to do it. I have you now, and 
you wanted me in the right way when I did come, I 
know.” 

“ Just this way is right and best,” he answered, as they 
proceeded to discuss Dolly’s ample lunch. 

“ Of course I did not expect to see you this morning, 
Dolph, but my own appetite has been very good lately, 
and I provided for all contingencies. You are the con- 
tingency, you see. We will have another lunch when 
v. c get back to the hotel, if we are hungry enough. “ No, 
not for a long time yet,” she laughingly added, for Dolph 
looked a decided negative to leaving his present comfort- 
able quarters. 

“ Don’t you think it is a benefit to the appetite to have 
an affair of this kind settled ?” asked Dolly, as they were 
now intent upon the postponed lunch, and doing ample 
justice to it. “Although, of course,” she added, reflec- 
tively, “ there never was a case just like ours. You must 
ask Doctor Hall, some time, if there is any complaint of 


186 


A BROTHER TO RELIEVE. 

which it can be said truly that the worse you have it the 
better you feel ! Or put it to him as a conundrum.” 

" If he could not guess, Nettie could, I am sure. She 
would probably say that the answer must be ‘love,’ for 
that grows by what it feeds on, surely,” and then he told 
her the doctor’s romance, which Nettie had said Dolly 
might hear. “ He felt under some obligation, I suppose, 
to tell a little of it, because Nettie heard me murmur your 
name so longingly in the few hours when my fever was 
at its worst.” 

“ Oh, Dolph, how I wanted to be near you, even when 
I did not know, but I feared you might be ill,” and she 
could not repress one little sob as she clung to him to 
assure herself that he was close by her and almost well. 
“ Do tell me what she is like, for I shall never forget 
what good care she and Doctor Hall took of you. I 
hardly want you to know how much I suffered in my 
dread and fear for you. Those days when I could not 
hear, the suspense was terrible.” 

“ It was hard for me to tell what to do, but as soon as 
I knew that my case was a light one, and had turned for 
the better, I had the message sent.” 

" You did the right thing, dear, but I am so glad it is 
all of the past,” she said with a shiver of dread even now 
as she hid her head upon his shoulder. 

“ The tears are very close today, Dolph, but they are 
almost all tears of joy. I had resolved to hold my feel 
ings in check, and take care of you, and I really think 
should have done so if I had not found you so strong,” 
she said, smiling again, as she lifted her head. “ Now 
tell me all about Nettie Moore.” 


187 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


“ She will be Nettie Hall before many days unless I am 
mistaken. I am very much afraid they will beat us, 
Dolly, though not so very badly, 1 hope,” with an interro- 
gation in his tone that made her blush, although she did 
not commit herself just then. 

“ Well, Nettie is about your height and weight, I should 
think; very pretty, but not so pretty, of course, and you 
are sure to like her for herself, without considering what 
she has done for me. She is as anxious to see you as 
you can possibly be to see her, and I am sure you will 
be a great resource and comfort to the poor girl at those 
times when her griefs come back to her heavily, especial- 
ly when her husband is necessarily away. The shock 
was a terrible one, but the doctor's loving care did much 
to sustain her through her trials, and finally, when she 
found her heart was in his keeping, it enabled her to hold 
on to life.” 

“ I know I shall love her, and I am in a hurry to see 
her,” said Dolly. “ I told Doctor Greene that he must 
move out for them, and I think he has about made up his 
mind to let the ‘ youngster/ as he calls him, have his 
practice at a very reasonable sum.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Dalrymple were overjoyed to see Dolph 
looking so well, but they thought it better to make as- 
surance doubly sure by staying out the time with him at 
the Springs. 

They were halcyon days to the fond lovers, and the 
walks and excursions were gradually lengthened, includ- 
ing a trip to the Natural Bridge. They visited the 
Luray Caverns before going to Washington, and much 
enjoyed the sightseeing in that city, unique in so many 
of its characteristics. 


188 


A BROTHER TO RELIEVE. 

The first thing that they noticed upon their return to 
Inglefield was the sign, “ George Hall, M. D., Physician 
and Surgeon,” upon the old office which Doctor Greene 
had so long occupied. 

‘ That is your fell work !” exclaimed the latter, who was 
just coming out as Dolly arrived with Dolph. 

“ You are a dear, good man,” she replied, “ and if Dolph 
does not object you shall kiss the bride — when she is 
one,” she concluded, sheltering herself in great trepida- 
tion, apparently, behind Dolph, as the doctor made a feint 
of taking his reward at once. 

“ Oh, it isn’t ‘ us ’ yet, then,” he said, at which all three 
laughed. “ I do not believe in these long engagements,” 
said the doctor, as if he thought it had been a matter of 
years already. “ I always advise, as a physician, against 
them, and I told George that my offer was contingent 
upon his bringing Nettie back at once as his bride. He 
did not have to go far for her, as she was already. es- 
tablished in his aunt’s family in New York. I told him 
that he could take much better care of her as his wife than 
by running continually into the city to look after her, 
and that under the circumstances she must shorten her 
time of outward mourning. She consented to take my 
prescription, which is more than you did with my bitter 
dose, Dolly, and they are both inside there now. Take 
your wife in, Dolph — bless my soul, I had forgotten! I 
mean take Dolly in and make her acquainted with my new 
tenants,” and the doctor hurried off in great enjoyment at 
Dolly’s confusion over his intentional slip. 

“ I will teach her to turn me out of house and home ! 
How well they both look. ‘ A proper pair,’ and they de- 
serve their happiness, both of them.” So, having as 


189 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


usual gainsaid his own first growl, he trudged sturdily 

on. 

Dolly and Nettie were not naturally demonstrative in 
their ways, but death had visited them too closely in 
snatching their dear ones to keep them long from each 
others’ arms. The young men, deeply moved, quietly 
left the room that the girls might indulge their grief for 
a space alone, before they counted with thankfulness the 
joys that still remained, one of which would be the hav- 
ing each other for such near neighbors. 

That evening in the arbor again, and the moonlight, 
Dolph and Dolly went over the whole sweet story once 
more. “ The same, yet different each time,” as she said, 
to which rather involved statement he readily assented. 

They then fell, naturally enough, to talking of Nettie ; 
and her improved looks, Dolph said, bore evidence of 
what Doctor Greene had remarked about marriage, and 
the consequent ability for constant care of Doctor Hall 
over his wife ; for it had proved the needed specific in her 
recovery from a great mental as well as physical strain. 

“ And now, dear, when is our own to be ?” 

Dolly looked shyly at first, and then with that love-light 
in her eyes that showed she was ready to confide all to 
him, as she replied : ‘‘ You waited a good while for me to 
make up my mind about what I called my heart, but could 
not seem to find (not knowing it was hidden in yours), 
and so I suppose you ought not to wait very long for the 
ceremony. Oh, Dolph, my darling, it does not need half 
the words I have used. Take me when you wish, dear !” 
and she sought the shelter of those arms that had shielded 
her since she could remember, for there she could return 
the loving gaze of eyes that, however ardently they 


A BROTHER TO RELIEVE. 


burned, were constant and true. She did not care, in this 
refuge, if he saw how her cheeks flushed, and that her 
eves shone with a tenderer look still as she consented to 
his wish for a very early date indeed. 



j ' ' 


CHAPTER X. 


“ Closer Than a Brother." 

They had what would be called “a quiet family wedding/’ 
including relatives and close friends only, and yet the list 
was larger than they had realized. 

Of Dolph’s immediate family there were, besides his 
parents, his sister Bessie and her husband, Will Smith, 
and Peggy with her husband, Harry Burden, and his 
brother, Sam Rogers and wife Jess, sister of Harry. 
Then there was Dan Brown and his wife Julia, Dolph’s 
old friend when he was a youngster at Ridgeville; Guy 
Vernon and Edith, Philip and Philippa Faulconer, Ned 
Wright and Lucy, Dick and Mabel Sargent, and Doctor 
Hall and Nettie, of course. ^Doctor Greene said he 
should have come anyway, although there was no danger 
of his being overlooked, and there were a very few other 
guests. 

Dolph and Dolly were talking it all over, just at pres- 
ent, on the piazza of the Old Mountain House, in the 
Catskills. 

“ We will go there, first, and then plan the rest of our 
honeymoon trip from that place as a starting point,” 
Dolph had told her. 

There was no hurry, for they were exceedingly com- 
fortable just where they were at present. 

They were to make a visit soon at Ned’s and Lucy’s de- 
lightful home, “ Pilgrimage,” and apropos of this Dolly 


192 


CLOSER THAN A BROTHER. 


said, one day : “ You have told me two of the prettiest 

love stories I ever heard — the one of Doctor Hall’s woo- 
ing and that other of Fred and his Mary. How would 
you like to hear one from me, now, about Ned Wright 
and Lucy? It is odd that I should be able to give you 
anything so close to Ned’s heart, when he has been a life- 
long friend of yours, and until recently totally unknown 
to me, but you can guess how I heard. 

“ Lucy is the last one to wear her heart upon her sleeve, 
but you know her opinion of you and your belongings — 
which means me, and so you have the moving impulse 
clear now. After all, she only gave it in outline, but it 
fills in beautifully for a romance that is as unique as it is 
charming. I will sketch it for you — this outline — and 
you shall fill in, as I did. 

“ They met at a large social gathering, larger than 
either of them really cared about, for neither will ever be 
much given to the eternal round of society functions, that 
in its exaggerated development becomes often trivial if 
not almost vulgar — certainly not distinctive, much as its 
votaries strive to make it so. 

“ Perhaps it was a feeling that there had been a little 
too much avoidance of such things that led each to go to 
what proved to be almost a crush. At any rate, they 
found each other , or were brought together, however you 
choose to view such strange meetings, for the first time. 
They talked of many things, including, possibly, the 
weather, but almost the last subject touched upon was 
music, when he said : ‘ Do you know, Miss Sargent, 

when I first caught sight of you across the room, I asso- 
ciated you with a harp somehow.’ * No,’ he protested as 
she smiled furtively, after a sudden little start, * I do not 


193 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


mean as a seraph among the clouds, which, I am sure, is 
what you were about to tax me with. What I do mean 
is that you must surely affect that instrument above all 
others. Now don't dispel this as an illusion, I pray you. 

‘ You are right/ she answered, with a little flush of sur- 
prise, ‘ though how you should divine it (and also that I 
was thinking what you thought I was about the seraph) 
I cannot imagine F 

“ The curtain drops now on the first act, and consider- 
able time is supposed to elapse, during which they have 
met on several occasions. 

“ Before that first meeting Ned had bought the place 
where we are to visit, ‘ Pilgrimage,’ with all its belong- 
ings, fully furnished, although never occupied. The 
former owner had fitted it up for his bride, but she died 
before she reached there, while on the very journey to 
what was to have been her home. 

“ Now in the second act you must suppose Ned and 
Lucy, with her brother, Dick, and his wife, just landing 
in the boat from Ned’s yacht. It is a perfect moonlight 
night, and they step out at the water-gate, as the entrance 
from that side is called, thence mounting by steps and 
a steep, zigzag path to the lawn at the front of the house. 
This house, you must know, is upon a little island, rising 
steeply upon all sides and having no approach beside this 
from the water, and the main entrance by causeway from 
the mainland. They passed a tiny lake on the way to 
the house, and a swan glided across to receive something 
that Lucy happened to have to bestow, and then a fawn 
came running across the lawn and put his cold nose into 
her hand, as a reminder that he, too, was her subject. It 
all seemed like fairyland, beautiful but unreal, in the 


194 


CLOSER THAN A BROTHER. 

moonlight. Ned explained that the idea of the fawn and 
swan was not his, but a fancy of the young girl who was 
to have been mistress here, for she was fond of these pets, 
as she was of her harp, which stood in the music-room 
- untouched since her death. This harp they had all heard 
l about before, and what the girl’s favorite tune was ; and 
Lucy knew also the fanciful idea that possessed the young 
bride when she found that she should never sound the 
harp again. This was that the fair one who should first 
touch the strings would become the wife of the next 
> owner of ‘Pilgrimage.’ 

“ When they came to the music-room, Ned and Lucy 
were left alone for a few minutes, and thinking only of 
the harp (not of the owner’s fate) she sat down and com- 
menced to play, and, as chance would have it, the very 
tune that was the bride’s favorite. 

“ It was perfectly unconscious, and the tears stood in 
her eyes as she thought of that pathetic death. What a 
sight it must have been for Ned ! This beautiful girl be- 
side the harp, with the moonlight falling upon her golden 
hair — the very color for that scene. What a thrill went 
through him as he vowed that, heaven helping, she should 
belong there yet. 

“ But what of Lucy, when suddenly the thought flashed 
before her of what she had done. Innocent as she was 
of any intent — there could be but one interpretation by 
the carping — that she had deliberately put herself into 
this situation, and for a purpose. She was startled, 
shocked in a certain way, but one look — in her momentary 
affright and confusion — into his honest eyes, reassured 
her. He simply said, ‘ I understand, Lucy. I only ask 
one thing of you, that you will not let this prejudice my 


i95 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


case. God knows what I desire to say beside, but tonight 
you are my guest. Can you say this much, that I stand 
no worse with you than I did before ?’ 

“ She glanced timidly at his pale face (how handsome 
he must have looked, Dolph, in that same moonlight!),, t 
and turned then and finished the tune. You know the \ 
rest. Now give me another kiss, dear. I need it, some- 
how.” 

Of course an early visit was made to North Mountain, \ 
so that Dolly might see the very place where Dolph had 
pined for — “ this ! ” she said, impulsively, as she threw 
her arms suddenly around his neck and kissed him. It 
seemed almost as if she had something to make up to 
him for what he had missed when he was here before — 
and she had paved the way for her demonstration by ask- 
ing him if the spot was entirely free from observation. 

Before he had time to see clearly the application of her 
remarks the deed was done; a surprise as complete as it 
was delightful, he told her. 

“ You know that I warned you, once, that you would 
find plenty of variety in me !” she exclaimed, laughing at 
the success of her impulsive action. 

“ Endless variety, and yet perfect constancy — a con- 
summation devoutly to be wished yet very rarely found. 
They make up part of the wonderful charm that I used 
to try and analyze until I ended in despair of finding any 
satisfactory words,” said the transformed and transported 
man who was close beside her. He called himself that 
as he remembered his former visits to this spot, alone. 

“ It was here that Lucy found ,you, that wicked crea- 
ture, as I thought her then, and who proved it later when 
she told her fish story to poor innocent me. Did you hear 

196 


A ^ . . 1 . 

CLOSER THAN A BROTHER. 

her ask at the wedding whether my lone fisherman had 
weighed his fish? I answered severely, ‘ It is a satisfac- 
tion to be able to tell you that he has weighed the fish 
and is entirely satisfied with his catch.’ ‘ I am so glad, 
for fishing is such an uncertain pastime, as some one has 
said before.’ Then she turned to me, suddenly, with glis- 
tening eyes, and whispered, ‘ I am so glad you have each 
other, dear, forevermore.’ Your sweet sister Peggy’s eyes 
glistened, too, and Edith’s and Philippa’s lovely ones. It 
seems to be that way always when the happiness lies very 
deep,” she whispered, with her own eyes glistening as she 
lifted them enough for him to read there what she knew 
he so often liked to find. 

” Perhaps,” he answered, “ it is because as in all the 
cases you have mentioned, there has been much to try the 
soul in danger, sickness or absence, and when a safe 
haven is reached at last, the depths of the spirit are stirred 
profoundly, from the mere thought of the wonderful 
peace and content that abounds everywhere.” 

That same evening as they sat on the piazza, Dolly’s 
comments upon a newly-wed couple who had just arrived 
caused a good deal of amusement to Dolph. “ You are 
a bride yourself, of only three days, and yet you survey 
these last arrivals with an air of profound experience 
that is vastly diverting to me, I assure you. I am not 
certain but that you had some advice already to proffer!” 

“ I am glad to divert my liege lord so easily. Per- 
chance light things may do it now ; for right truly hath it 
been said that man in the first quarter of his honeymoon 
taketh nothing amiss that a winsome bride doeth or 
sayeth. But leaving stilted phrase — this is such a boy 
and girl affair, Dolph, she cannot be over sixteen. I am 
interested, I grant.” 


197 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


“ Philippa Faulconer was only seventeen when she mar- 
ried Philip, and an ancestress of mine, nearly three hun- 
dred years ago, married, by her own testimony, before 
she was fourteen ! What do you think of that, Dolly ?” 

“ What was her name ?” 

“ Herodias Short, or Horod, as abbreviated still more 
upon the old records.” 

“ I think she had much better have waited longer . It 
is really quite too horrid to think of in one so young,” 
said Dolly, with a matronly severity which nearly con- 
vulsed her husband. 

“ I must take after her, I think.” he said, reflectively. 

“ You don’t mean to say that you married before you 
were fourteen, and never even mentioned it to me !” ex- 
claimed Dolly, in well-assumed dismay at such a truly 
horrible disclosure. 

“ No, but it was at about that age I wanted to marry 
you, debating it very seriously, in fact ; but I could see 
that you were unprepared.” 

“What became of your horrid ancestress ? Excuse me if 
I speak irreverently.” 

“ Her subsequent career was a checkered one, for her 
first husband deserted her shortly after they came to New 
England, and she left her second husband after living 
with him nearly twenty years. She was still quite young, 
and essayed matrimony a third time with a man who was 
himself divorced. I think that finished her varied mari- 
tal experiences. I am afraid my grandmother, of ten re- 
moves, was of an impulsive temperament in other things 
also, for she was whipped for testifying as to her re- 
ligious belief, praying thereafter for her persecutors, as 
was usual in that day. ' Requiescat in pace,’ shade of my 

198 


CLOSER THAN A BROTHER.’ 


grandmother ; and now to return to the youthful couple. 
Are they not the same babes in the wood that we saw in 
Central Park a few weeks ago, whose coy actions amused 
us so?” 

“ The very same. I recognized them at once upon their 
arrival here tonight. You know how circumspect they 
were in the park, very properly so, of course. ‘ Ho 
sighed, she sighed,’ and finally ‘ they sighed, side by side, 
down by the riverside’ or lake, to speak literally.” 

“ I remember,” laughed Dolph, “ and you know I asked 
you if it would not be better for the young man to come 
right to the point, suggesting that he might, as in ‘ Love’s 
Labour’s Lost,’ resolve that — 

Henceforth my wooing shall be express’d 
In russet yeas, and honest kersey noes;’ 

“ And you said, Dolly, that it would be pretty for him to 
use another quotation apropos of the book she held — 

“ ‘ For where is any author in the world 
Teaches such beauty as a woman’s eye?’” 

“Yes, Dolph, and I told you that you must not hurry 
them too much, for you wanted a proposal then and there, 
and I quoted again from your favorite play : 

“ ‘A time, methinks, too short 

To make a world-without-end bargain in.’ ” 

“ It is very evident that they have not only made the 
bargain, but that the knot has been firmly tied, to bind it,” 
he replied. “ It is rather odd that we should have stum- 
bled on them here, or they on us ; but I suppose we shall 
be coming upon bridal couples right along now, for it is 
the season, and the latitude, also, if we take in Niagara 
Falls, the St. Lawrence and the Saguenay. Shall we de- 
flect from that path to avoid our kind ? Do you feel em- 


199 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


barrassed yourself, as under possible suspicion, or do you 
flatter yourself, like so many others, that you would never 
be known for a bride ?” 

“ I do not bother myself much about it,” she answered, 
giving his arm a little squeeze, which he had learned 
might be construed so variously that he gave himself the 
benefit of any possible doubt, unvaryingly. She con- 
tinued, in a moment : “ I have at length what I always 

needed (although I haven’t always known it), and why 
should I borrow trouble over such a trifling thing? I 
am sure we are circumspect enough, without being pain- 
fully so, which might excite suspicion; and certainly we 
are not ashamed of the new relation into which we have 
entered. If other people take the same quiet satisfaction 
about us that I do in seeing these happy young couples, 
starting forth so confidently together, I am sure they 
ought to have it. I don’t object. Do you?” 

“ Not at all,” he answered. “ You have won me over 
from that first shyness, and I am gaining confidence every 
day. The lessons have been very pleasant !” 

“ 1 will continue them indefinitely, then ! ” she ex- 
claimed, “ and we will keep to our route uAterrified and 
unterrifying, for I know you would not really frighten 
one of the poor, tender creatures, by word or look, even.” 

It had so happened that neither had visited Niagara 
Falls before, and they enjoyed to the utmost that wonder- 
ful manifestation of nature’s might and majesty, while 
looking from the various points of advantage, the steam- 
er especially. When they went down beside the dark, 
sullen waters of the Whirlpool Rapids, Dolly said that it 
seemed as if some uncanny and revengeful spirit hovered 
over it, to work ill to any living creature that might be 


200 


CLOSER THAN A BROTHER. 


drawn into the vortex. The whole place seemed under 
a blighting spell, as if accursed. 

The Thousand Isles, Montreal, and Quebec, were all 
enjoyed in different ways, but the trip from Quebec upon 
the lower St. Lawrence and up the Saguenay River was 
the most delightful part of the whole journey to both of 
them. Placing their things in the stateroom, except a 
wrap or two, they hurried out to enjoy the sail from the 
very start upon this, the grandest river in North America. 
They knew something of what was in store for them on 
the Saguenay from the account given by others, photo- 
graphic views, and their own reading, but not near enough 
had been told them, as they agreed, of the grandeur of 
the lower St. Lawrence River, and the valley through 
which the noble stream took its course. The modes of 
life, too, along the banks interested them, the clustered 
houses, strung closely by the shores for companionship, 
with narrow farms running back far up the heights ; the 
occasional church with its brightly shining tinned spire, 
unpainted, but apparently needing none, for the tin spires 
and roofs never seemed to rust to any extent. 

They sat outside long into the evening, and when they 
finally retired to their stateroom Dolly said it was like 
entering their own home and commencing housekeep- 
ing. “ Not quite, of course, but it is so cozy and com- 
fortable, and you are here, Dolph, and, just think of it, ( 
we shall have two nights on the steamer; quite a little 
voyage. I have been debating during the brief intermis- 
sions of our conversation why many people so soon get 
over the wonder of this close life together — this that we 
have started on, — for it is wonderful, Dolph, and must 
ever remain so to those who rightly love. I am sure of it. 

201 


DOLPH AND DOLLY. 


It is a beautiful thing, too, for just think how trustfully 
the long journey is entered upon, with old relations sev- 
ered in many vital ways, and new ones taken up. The in- 
timacy of it, also, delightful if love abounds, but becom- 
ing so hopeless a bond if something less is given, which I 
fear is too often the case.” 

“ I . know what you mean, Dolly, and one reason why 
you are surprised at this change of attitude in many peo- 
ple — a change that it hurts you to see, even in strangers 
— is because in the case of your parents and mine that 
change never came. The magic of the look, the touch, 
the presence, merely, with them, is as of old, when they 
were youthful lovers. You have seen it in a hundred lit- 
tle ways, although it has ever been held as too sacred a 
thing to parade in any way. If you had been as close 
to others lives you would doubtless have seen it some- 
times where you are puzzled now to know whether it 
exists at all. In cases where it is too evident that all has 
fled of this sweet wonder, as you have called it, that must 
be either because it never really existed, except in seem- 
ing, or, if in a measure it did exist, other and meaner 
things have been allowed to displace it, for a time, or, still 
worse, forever. 

“ When, for a time only, the awakening comes again, 
in some great stress of sickness, danger, or death itself, 
and then whatever has been placed before it — petty 
ambitions, for money, place, power, political preferment, 
social distinction — all are deemed but as dust in the bal- 
ance. Where the ‘ first glamour,’ as it may then well be 
called, is put aside forever, it is evident that there was 
never any real capacity for comprehension of the beauty, 
charm and dignity of the sweetest relation in life. 


203 


> 

CLOSER THAN A BROTHER. 

“ In these cases, pitiful in their hopelessness, the blame 
must be less than when there was ability to love that has 
been crushed or set aside. Men who place — as of at 
least equal importance to this — church, club, society, 
business, politics, instead of holding these where they 
belong; and women who consider men merely as ap- 
pendages — bread winners, providers of progeny ( though 
that is not too exacting a claim with many), a conven- 
ience as enabling them to dress better, entertain more 
lavishly — such, of either sex, can never have been nor 
ever be the delight through life that your parents and 
mine have ever been to each other; that we, too, shall 
always be to each other, Dolly.” 

He awoke first the next morning, and as Dolly opened 
her eyes, a few moments later, and strove to take in her 
novel surroundings, he said. “ Are you still in wonder- 
land, darling?” 

“ I shall never leave it, dearest,” she murmured, as she 
returned his caress with a sigh of content, reassured in 
finding him close beside her. 

When fairly awake she laughed softly, and said : “ I 

was trying to embrace — I mean realize — my surround- 
ings.” 

“ The word did not need amendment, Dolly,” he in- 
sisted, which she only answered with a blush. 

“ The youthful couple,” as they had characterized 
them, appeared again that morning, although where they 
had kept themselves on the steamer until then could not 
be imagined. 

“ They seem more composed, less apart from their sur- 
roundings, as they get better acquainted with each other,” 
said Dolly, adding : “ I think the bride is trying to pick 

out others of her kind, which you averred yesterday was 


203 


I 

DOLPH AND DOLLY. 

a favorite occupation of very young matrons. It seems 
to have the usual result upon her, for, quoting now from 
another play of your favorite author, ‘ The sight of lovers 
feedeth those in love.’ ” 

Those mighty cliffs, Cape Eternity and Cape Trinity, 
were passed near enough for the travelers to be thorough- 
ly impressed with the dread grandeur of their beetling 
height, above the dark and almost fathomless waters of 
the Saguenay. Dolph said : “ It is hard for me to re- 

member statistics of such wonders in nature, nor do I 
always care for minute details where the general 
effect is so stupendously grand, but if an idea of relative 
proportions is to be retained in this cockle-shell which we 
have hitherto considered a large steamer, it is well 
to bear in mind that one of these cliffs rises nearly two 
thousand feet and almost perpendicularly from the water 
— a third of a mile high, in other words. The distance, 
Dolly, from Doctor Hall’s office to where ‘ us ’ are going 
to live, as Doctor Greene insists upon saying, is almost 
exactly the height of this cliff.” 

“ It does not seem possible that the top of the rocks 
can be as far as that !” she exclaimed. “ By the way, 
Dolph, why not accept the doctor’s christening? ‘Us 
House ’ sounds very well indeed, I am sure. Your sister 
Peggy, or her husband, started the custom by naming 
their summer home ‘ Arbutus Lodge,’ and we might as 
well keep it up.” 

“ Has the old doctor forgiven you yet for turning him 
out of his little white cottage where the trees are ever 
green ?” 

“ Oh, yes ; for I learned the song and sang it to him, 
as I promised, and assured him that I really did not mean 


204 


CLOSER THAN A BROTHER. 

to put any extra emphasis into the ‘ green ’ nor play 
upon words ; for it was a wise and good thing to do, to 
let the young people in, where they were so very comfort- 
able and cozy. And then, you know, he had the fulfill- 
ment of that other promise about the kiss, at the wed- 
ding, although I held him back a moment, saying, ‘ It is 
kiss and forgive, you know !’ He assented, although he 
said there were no conditions when I promised it, except 
your permission. * It is all very exceptional, doctor. I 
don’t know when I have learned a song and granted a kiss 
before, and Dolph is very, very particular, too,’ I added. 
I did not assume too much, did I?” she asked demurely. 
“ You are particular, are you not?” 

" Very !” he responded, so quickly that they both 
laughed. “ You did not put it a bit too strongly.” 

“ You make the average a very good one, I am sure, 
Dolph, by your ” 

“ Aggregations ?” he suggested. 

“ That is a very good word for it, Dolph. It fits the 
case, I am sure,” she added, after a new opportunity had 
been afforded for her to judge of the matter.* 

The Saguenay, or that part of it from Tadousac up to 
Chicoutimi and Ha Ha Bay, was declared to be not only 
a delightful sail, but an ideal trip for bridal couples; so 
much so that they decided to recommend it to any in- 
quirers hereafter who might be venturing upon the vast, 
untried sea of matrimony. 

The voyage would be found a restful, soothing one, on 
which the very unromantic experience of seasickness 
might well be avoided, as should be the case at such a 
time. 


205 


DOLPII AND DOLLY. 


Their return was via Lake Champlain, Lake George, 
Saratoga, and the Hudson River, to Inglefield, at last, 
and “ Us House”. 

“ Our home,” as Dolly murmured with his arms 
around her, and her eyes full of the love-light that always 
thrilled him, as she knew so well. 

There were a good many gifts, simple in character, 
from their little circle of friends, but nothing touched 
Dolly so much, as the card which she found from Doctor 
Greene, enclosed in an envelope which was directed — 
“ Dolph and Dolly — To be opened at their first meal 
together in ‘ Us House.’ ” 

On the card itself, under the doctor’s name was writ- 
ten in a hand not quite so firm as it was once : 

” Joy and fresh days of love 
Accompany your hearts.” 

Dolly’s eyes filled with tears as she read it aloud to 
Dolph, and said : “ It is a blessing, dear, that will al- 

ways remain with us.” 



206 











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APR 6 1903 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



